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TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS 



JOHN PAUL JONES 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

MBW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 




John Paul Jones 
" I have ever looked out fotr the honour of the American Flag. 



JOHN PAUL JONES 



BY 
l/ FRANK TOOKER 



ILLUSTRATED 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1916 

All rights restrved 






Copyright, 1916, 
Bv THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 19x6. 



He 






NOV 23 1916 



J. 8. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



©CI.A445750 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGB 

An Adventurous Boyhood i 



CHAPTER 11 
Some Early Victories . . . . • -14 

CHAPTER III 
Preparing for Europe 32 

CHAPTER IV 
Saluting the Stars and Stripes .... 39 

CHAPTER V 
Fights in the Irish Sea ; 51 

CHAPTER VI 
The Trials of a Victor 74 

CHAPTER VII 
In the Bay of Biscay 97 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VIII 

PAGE 

Delays and Discouragements . . . . iii 

CHAPTER IX 
"Going Into Harm's Way" . . . * .120 

CHAPTER X 
The Great Fight , • 131 

CHAPTER XI 
The Little Man in Blue 146 

CHAPTER XII 
The Enmity of Landais 160 

CHAPTER XIII 
Storm and Sunshine . . . . . .170 

CHAPTER XIV 
With the Russian Fleet 183 

CHAPTER XV 
Friendships and Honors 206 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Portrait of John Paul Jones . . Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Tablet on Badger's Island 48 ' 

John Paul Jones. Statue 98 ' 

Battle between the Sera pis and the Bon 
Homme Richard 138 

Medal awarded to John Paul Jones . . .186 

The Chapel at Annapolis 208 ^ 



vH 



JOHN PAUL JONES 

CHAPTER I 

An Adventurous Boyhood 

The Solway Firth, an arm of the Irish Sea, 
drives a broad wedge of salt water between Scot- 
land and England almost up to the Cheviot Hills. 
Hills and firth formed the natural defenses of 
Scotland in the old days when she fought with 
England, and the raiders of both countries were 
constantly crossing the border to lay waste and 
harry. It is a region of romance and adventure, 
and every yard of its soil has its story. From the 
hills of Arbigland, on the Scottish side of the 
firth, one can look across the blue waters to the 
peaks of Skiddaw, Saddleback ; and Helvellyn, 
Grasmere, Rydal, and Ambleside, names that the 
Lake poets have made famous, lie just beyond. 
To the east rise the Cheviot Hills. The sails of 
fishing-boats dot the Solway, and from the larger 
ports, like Whitehaven, on the English shore, 



2 JOHN PAUL JONES 

ships go out to foreign lands. Every tradition of 
the people and every prospect must call to a boy 
of spirit to go forth on strange and perilous ad- 
ventures. 

With certainty they called to one boy who first 
saw the light of day in a little stone cottage at 
Arbigland on the 6th of July, 1747. John Paul 
was his name. His father, a native of Leith, 
shortly after his marriage to Jeannie MacDuff 
had gone to Arbigland as gardener on the large 
estate of a country squire of the name of Robert 
Craik. His brother George occupied a similar 
position at St. Mary's Isle, the adjoining estate 
of the Earl of Selkirk. The latter estate bordered 
the River Dee, on which the small seaport of 
Kirkcudbright is situated, and here John Paul 
passed much of his early boyhood with his uncle. 
In Kirkcudbright and in Carsethorn, at the mouth 
of the River Nith, he met many sailors and talked 
with them, and learned to sail a boat well. It was 
the beginning of his study in the great school of 
adventure, and doubtless made a far greater im- 
pression on his sensitive mind than did the work 
of the parish school at Kirkbean, where, however, 
he was said to be a good student. 

But it was a time of adventure, and Great 
Britain was busily colonizing the New World. 



AN ADVENTUROUS BOYHOOD 3 

John Paul's eldest brother, William, and his 
cousin had already gone thither when at twelve 
he, too, set sail for Virginia as an apprenticed 
sailor on the Friendship, a vessel of Whitehaven 
owned by a Mr. Younger. The Friendship sailed 
for a port on the Rappahannock River not far 
from Fredericksburg, where John Paul's brother 
had settled, and with him the young sailor passed 
most of his time while ashore, gaining his first 
impression of the land that, as he said later in 
life, had always been the goal of his dreams. 

Little is known of his early life at sea beyond 
the fact that he was a good seaman and gave 
much time to the study of his profession. With 
the growth of his knowledge his ambition appears 
to have widened, for on losing his berth on the 
Friendship, through the business failure of her 
owner, he applied to the Duke of Queensberry 
to assist him in entering the navy. In boyhood 
he had met the duke at St. Mary's Isle, and upon 
the latter's recommendation John Paul received 
his appointment as midshipman in the royal navy. 
There he remained long enough to see that merit 
without influence was of httle avail in the matter 
of advancement, and he resigned his position to 
return to the merchant service. The short ex- 
perience was undoubtedly of great value to him. 



4 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Too much cannot be expected of a mere midship- 
man, but John Paul must have employed his brief 
time in the navy to good purpose, for in the letters 
that he afterward wrote to Joseph Hewes and 
Robert Morris of the needs of the new navy his 
suggestions were both wise and practical. He also, 
at about this time, advocated the establishment of 
a naval school not unHke the one that has since 
won honor at Annapolis. 

In that day of great colonizing adventures 
men's thoughts turned specially to the golden 
tropics. In the development of those fruitful 
regions labor was urgently needed, and in a way 
the constantly warring tribes of the west coast of 
Africa stood ready to supply the demand. Along 
the Bight of Benin, on the Gulf of Guinea, barra- 
coons, or stockades, were everywhere built, 
whither whole villages — men, women, and chil- 
dren — were brought by their captors and con- 
fined there until they could be transferred to the 
slave-ships that plied their trade between this coast 
and tropical America, the main dumping-ground 
being the West Indies. In gangs the naked 
negroes were taken aboard the slavers, to be 
literally packed in the dark and noisome holds, 
with no air beyond what could reach them through 
the small grated hatchways. From heat in sum- 



AN ADVENTUROUS BOYHOOD 5 

mer and cold in winter, with insufficient food and 
water, the captives died by the score on the long 
voyage. Yet even with the great loss of life, the 
trade paid enormous profits, and the foundations 
of many great fortunes were laid at this time by 
merchants and shipowners of cities like Glasgow, 
Liverpool, and Bristol, who did not consider it 
beneath either their principles or their dignity to 
embark in the trade. 

It was into this sorry branch of seafaring life 
that John Paul now entered. He went out to the 
slave coast as third mate of the King George, and 
later he sailed as the first mate of the Two Friends. 

For two years he remained in the trade, and 
then, in 1768, left his vessel in the island of Ja- 
maica, thoroughly sick of the horrors that he was 
constantly forced to see. In a letter written by 
John Philip Kemble it is stated that at this time, 
while without employment, John Paul was for a 
brief period a member of the company of John 
Moody, a well-known Irish actor, who was then 
in Jamaica, appearing in the part of young Bevil 
in ''The Conscious Lover." Doubtless it was a 
mere makeshift in an hour of need, for about this 
time John Paul took passage for Kirkcudbright in 
the John, a brigantine belonging to that port of 
his boyhood. It was in a way a fortunate chance 



6 JOHN PAUL JONES . 

that led him aboard the John, for on the home- i 
ward voyage both captain and first mate died, ; 
and upon John Paul fell the duty of navigating the \ 
vessel to port. In reward of this, on her \ 
next voyage to Jamaica he went out as her 
master. 

On his second voyage as captain, while unload- 
ing at the island of Tobago, in the West Indies, he 
was forced by the disorderly conduct of the men 
to flog Mungo Maxwell, the ship's carpenter. It ; 
was a frequent enough punishment on shipboard in ! 
those days, but Maxwell went to James Simpson, J 
a judge of the vice-admiralty court of the island, \ 
and entered a complaint against the captain. , 
After a personal examination of the alleged wounds, j 
the judge dismissed the complaint, and six weeks \ 
later Maxwell, in good health, left the island on a 
vessel bound for Barcelona, Spain. It was not 
until after he had returned to Scotland that John i 
Paul learned that Maxwell had died on the way | 
to Barcelona and that his death was attributed 
by his friends to the flogging received in Tobago. ; 
The two principals in the unfortunate affair were ! 
from the same part of Scotland, and naturally '\ 
the story came to the ears of John Paul's friends 
and neighbors. His own family was of course dis- ! 
tressed, and many in the neighborhood believed ^ 



AN ADVENTUROUS BOYHOOD ^ 

the tale, among them the Robert Craik on whose 
estate John Paul had been born. 

John Paul had left the command of the John in 
April, 1 77 1, and doubtless the story worked 
against him in his attempts to secure another 
command in the same trade, for it is known that 
for several months he sailed on the small coasting 
vessels running between the Isle of Man and neigh- 
boring ports in England and Scotland. Long 
afterward, when his name had become a bug- 
bear to the people of Great Britain, it was declared 
that at this period he had really been engaged in 
smuggling, though this John Paul indignantly 
denied. The fact that the records of his clearance- 
papers are preserved in the custom-house at 
Douglas, in the Isle of Man, seem to prove his 
point. A smuggler has small use for a custom- 
house. 

He was living under a cloud when, with grim 
determination to prove his innocence, he again 
set sail for Tobago. On his former voyage to the 
island he had made friends with many of its best 
people, and now both William Young, the gover- 
nor, and James Simpson, the judge before whom 
Maxwell had gone, came to his aid. Judge Simp- 
son knew all the facts of the case and wholly freed 
John Paul from blame. Not to leave anything un- 



8 JOHN PAUL JONES 

done, John Paul even obtained another affidavit 
from James Eastment, the master of the vessel on 
which Maxwell set sail for Barcelona, in which he 
declared that Maxwell had come aboard his vessel 
in good health, but later, on the voyage, had died 
of a fever. This document John Paul deposited 
with the lord mayor of London on January 30, 

1773. 

He had been particularly hurt by the unfriend- 
liness of Mr. Craik, his old patron, and in a feehng 
letter to his family he sent a copy of Judge Simp- 
son's affidavit to be given to Mr. Craik. Years 
afterward John Paul's family declared that Mr. 
Craik had been fully convinced of the falsity of 
the story. But the young man had been deeply 
hurt. He was sensitive and high-spirited, and 
never again visited his old home. Indeed, he 
never saw his family again, though he often wrote, 
and aided his mother as much as was possible. 

But freed at last from the injustice of the Max- 
well affair, he was again able to take up seafaring 
life with new energy. He succeeded in buying a 
London vessel named the Betsey, and having 
taken aboard a cargo at Cork, early in 1773 again 
set sail for the West Indies, arriving at Tobago 
in April. Having persuaded a planter named 
Archibald Stuart to enter into partnership with 



AN ADVENTUROUS BOYHOOD 9 

him, he unloaded his cargo, and was taking aboard 
a return cargo for Europe when a new and greater 
misfortune overtook him and changed his whole 
life. Yet here is a curious illustration of the 
strange working of fate. If this untoward event 
had not taken place, it is more than probable that 
John Paul would have remained John Paul to the 
end, a worthy Scottish mariner, but that is all. 
But the affair that seemingly ruined him and 
made him a wanderer set his feet by some strange 
chance in the path that led to fame. 

He paid off his officers, but probably being short 
of funds, hoped to hold back the wages of his sea- 
men until he reached Europe. It is more than 
likely, too, that he feared to lose his men if their 
wages were paid. But they demanded their 
wages, and while hastening the loading of his 
vessel he came aboard one morning only to face a 
drunken and mutinous crew, already preparing to 
desert. Naturally he protested, and in defending 
himself against the murderous assault of the ring- 
leader, he killed the man with his sword. 

Now, the seafaring life was not a gentle calling 
in that day, — indeed, it is not in this, — and 
many a ship's master went brutally about enforc- 
ing his orders with never a thought of retribution 
overtaking him. Perhaps the main reason why 



to JOHN PAUL JONES 

John Paul was less fortunate lay in the fact that 
the two mischances that brought him trouble 
happened in port and not on the high seas. The 
difference was vital. 

Undoubtedly he was justified by every rule of 
the sea, as well as by the right that a man has 
either on sea or land to defend his own Hfe ; but 
in this case he seems to have been poorly advised. 
He now went to his old friend Judge Simpson and 
offered to give himself up, but was told that that 
would be unnecessary until his case came to trial, 
and court was not in session at the time. Exactly 
why he did what he now decided upon will never 
be known, but leaving his vessel and her cargo in 
the care of his partner, Archibald Stuart, with 
the aid of friends, he secretly left the island. 
From June, 1773, until the close of 1775 a cloud 
of mystery surrounds him. Whether at any time 
in this long period he really became a ''gentleman 
of fortune," a mild name by which pirates are 
wont to call themselves in fiction, no one can 
prove. At that time the distinction between 
pirates and privateers was very slight, and in the 
English mind at least all the attributes of piracy 
were conferred upon the numerous Spanish vessels 
that at that period preyed upon British shipping 
saiHng the Spanish Main. Long after this time 



AN ADVENTUROUS BOYHOOD ii 

there was printed privately the account of one 
Thomas Chase of Martha's Vineyard in which it 
was stated that, when Chase was a young man, a 
small vessel once came to anchor in Holmes Hole 
in the autumn of 1773. He said that she was well 
armed and very fast. It was his fortune to meet 
and talk with her captain, who gave his name as 
Paul Jones. The crew, he declared, were a set 
of Spanish and Portuguese desperadoes. Subse- 
quently Chase shipped on an American privateer, 
but, having been captured by a British man-of- 
war, was for two years held as a prisoner in Ply- 
mouth, England. On his release he again met, 
this time in L'Orient, France, the Paul Jones of 
the supposedly piratical craft, now Captain Paul 
Jones of the American navy, and commander of 
the Bon Homme Richard. Having shipped with 
him, Chase was in the fight of the Bon Homme 
Richard and the Serapis. Of course it is not 
wholly impossible that, in his flight from Tobago, 
John Paul had found his way aboard one of the 
Spanish rovers that sailed the Spanish Main, 
though one would hardly expect to find him so soon 
the captain of one. 

But wherever he may have been, or whatever 
the sort of life that he had led in the interval, early 
in the year 1775 he appears to have landed in 



12 JOHN PAUL JONES 

the port of Edenton, North Carolina. Tradition 
states that he was now befriended by Willie Jones, 
a man of wealth and position. With the well- 
known hospitality of the South, John Paul was 
received into Jones's house, and there had his first 
opportunity to associate with people of culture 
and refinement. The chance brought him, too, 
the opportunity for which fate seemed preparing 
him. The country was already seething with the 
spirit that brought on the American Revolution, 
and in this atmosphere John Paul's imagination 
was fired for the cause of Hberty. It seems more 
than mere chance, then, that he should here fall 
in with Joseph Hewes, a man who was to remain 
his lifelong friend and who was well able to start 
him on the career for which he was best fitted. 
Hewes was a shipbuilder, a member of the first 
Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration 
of Independence, and later a member of the first 
naval committee appointed by Congress. When 
Hewes, in May, 1775, went north to attend the 
meeting of Congress, John Paul was impelled to 
follow him. Tradition declares that, on leaving 
the hospitable home of Willie Jones, John Paul 
asked for, and received, the privilege of using the 
name of Jones as his surname. If Thomas Clark's 
account is true, John Paul had already used the 



AN ADVENTUROUS BOYHOOD 13 

name as early as the autumn of 1773, when he 
landed on Martha's Vineyard. However all this 
may be explained, he appeared at the doors of 
Congress as John Paul Jones, and under that 
name began the career that was to enroll him 
among the naval heroes of a new nation. 



CHAPTER II 

Some Early Victories 

Hewes and Paul Jones had gone to Philadelphia 
in May, 1775, and although the question of form- 
ing a navy had been discussed from time to time 
during the summer, it was autumn before any 
definite steps were taken. Then word came that 
two unarmed transports, with valuable cargoes of 
military suppHes for the British army, had left 
England for Quebec ; and with the desire to in- 
tercept and capture the vessels. Congress appointed 
a committee of three men — Silas Deane of Con- 
necticut, John Langdon of New Hampshire, and 
Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina — to make 
definite plans. 

Upon the report of the committee, Washington, 
now commander in chief of the army, was asked 
to borrow two vessels belonging to Massachusetts 
to be fitted out against the transports. However, 

14 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 15 

the members from Rhode Island had already recom- 
mended to Congress the establishment of a national 
fleet, and after a long and bitter debate, in which 
the fear was expressed that the plan would bank- 
rupt the Government, the Rhode Island sugges- 
tion was carried, and the naval committee of three 
men was instructed to look into the matter of 
purchasing vessels. The committee made its re- 
port, and on October 13 a resolution was passed 
by Congress, ordering the committee to proceed 
at once to purchase two fast vessels, one of ten 
guns, the other of fourteen. In compliance with 
the order, the Lexington and the Reprisal were 
bought, these two thus becoming the distinguished 
forerunners of the long line that was to become 
famous through such names as the Bon Homme 
Richard, the Constitution, the Kearsarge, and the 
Monitor. A few days later, on October 30, the 
naval committee was enlarged, John Adams of 
Massachusetts, Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, 
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, and Joseph Hewes 
of North Carolina being the new members. On 
the same day it having been ordered that two 
larger vessels, one of thirty-six guns and one of 
twenty, be purchased, the Alfred and the Colum- 
bus were straightway added to the fleet. The 
enthusiasm for a navy now rapidly grew, and on 



l6 JOHN PAUL JONES 

December 13 Congress passed a resolution to add 
thirteen new vessels to the navy and increased 
the size of the naval committee to one member 
from each colony. A few days later a commander 
in chief of the navy, four captains, and several 
lieutenants were appointed. Ezek Hopkins of 
Rhode Island was the first commander in chief, 
but the first name on the list of lieutenants was 
that of John Paul Jones, who, owing to the fact 
that he had come up to Philadelphia from Eden ton 
in the train of Joseph Hewes and was nominated 
by that gentleman, was called the lieutenant from 
North Carolina. 

Though this was the beginning of the American 
navy as authorized by Congress, the honor of 
being the first naval officer has long been a matter 
of dispute. Washington, as commander in chief 
of the army, at an earlier date had given commis- 
sions to the captains of several small vessels to 
cruise in the track of British transports bringing 
army supplies to Boston, and Captain John Manly 
had been the first of those thus commissioned. In 
the Lee, in a cruise that began near the end of 
November, he had succeeded in capturing and 
bringing to port four transports. But the Lexing- 
ton, the first ship purchased by Congress, was also 
the first to sail under general orders from Congress, 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 17 

and had put to sea under the command of Captain 
John Barry, who had reached America in the Black 
Prince, later purchased and renamed the Alfred. 
The honor of being the first officer in the navy 
seems to lie between these two men, therefore, 
the relative value of a commission from Wash- 
ington or Congress being the chief point of 
debate. 

At a later date John Paul Jones stated that 
shortly after his appointment was received he had 
been offered the command of the Providence and 
then of the Fly, both small vessels, but he had 
refused both offers for a lieutenancy on the Alfred, 
on the ground of the greater opportunity for 
activity on the flagship, and the benefit to be 
derived from sailing under men of greater experi- 
ence than he possessed. Both his reasons were in 
time to prove disappointing. At the outset his 
choice appeared a good one. Neither Hopkins 
nor Dudley Saltonstall, the commander in chief 
and the captain appointed to the Alfred, had yet 
arrived in Philadelphia, and the task of fitting 
out the flagship fell to Jones. He worked with 
his usual speed and skill, and by the time Hopkins 
arrived the ship was ready to sail. As a reward 
for his activity, it is said that Hopkins promised 
Jones the command of the ship; but Saltonstall 



i8 JOHN PAUL JONES 

appearing shortly before the squadron sailed, he 
retained the command. 

It was January before the commander in chief 
boarded the vessel, under orders from Congress to 
sail at once in the attempt to destroy the fleet of 
Lord Dunmore, which had been harrying the coast 
of Virginia. By some strange mischance, no one 
seems to have made a note of the exact date. It 
was a cold, clear day, and all Philadelphia had 
gathered to watch the sailing of the fleet of eight 
vessels. Early in the morning a barge brought 
Hopkins off to the Alfred. As he stepped over 
the side, at a command from Captain Saltonstall, 
Paul Jones ran up the first flag to float over an 
American man-of-war. Of course the flag was 
not the one we know to-day as the national ensign, 
but a curious banner of yellow silk, bearing the 
representation of a rattlesnake coiled at the foot of 
a pine-tree, with the words, ''Don't tread on me." 

There appears to have been Httle chance of any 
one's doing so. The rattlesnake is not noted for 
swiftness in putting itself into harm's way, and 
in this respect at least the new squadron did not 
depart from that characteristic of its symbol. 
Hopkins lost so much valuable time in putting to 
sea that he was caught in the ice, and it was not 
until February was half gone that he was at last 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 19 

fairly clear of the land. Though he had been 
directed by Congress to go in pursuit of Lord Dun- 
more, his orders had given him power to ignore 
this direction of Congress if it conflicted with his 
own better judgment. At the last moment it did 
conflict, and leaving Lord Dunmore's fleet behind, 
he headed his own squadron toward the Bahamas. 
On nearing the islands, two small sloops were 
captured, and learning from their crews that the 
forts of New Providence held a large store of 
powder, and were poorly garrisoned, Hopkins de- 
termined to make an attack on the forts. Unfor- 
tunately, he approached the coast in broad day- 
light, and, having thus given warning of danger, 
delayed his attack. He himself proposed to land 
his attacking party on the west coast, but, as Paul 
Jones pointed out, there was no anchorage there 
for the ships and no road overland to Nassau ; 
before the landing party could reach the town, 
the governor would have ample time to prepare 
an adequate defense. Jones himself advised that 
the fleet sail around to the east coast and work in 
behind a small island, where there was a good 
harbor, with only a short distance to cover on 
land. Hopkins agreed to this, but on his refusal 
to permit the men of the captured sloops to pilot 
the squadron up to its anchorage, Paul Jones him- 



20 JOHN PAUL JONES 

self went aloft and brought the fleet safely in. 
The landing party sailed up the eastern passage to 
within four miles of Fort Montague, then marched 
upon Nassau, and took possession of both town 
and fort without the loss of a man. Early the 
next morning the squadron sailed into the harbor 
and seized a hundred cannon and a large quantity 
of stores, but owing to their lack of care in ap- 
proaching the island, the governor had had ample 
time to load his vessels with powder and send 
them away in the night. Even the modified 
success was due wholly to Jones, and this was all 
the more marked because it was the only success 
of the cruise. Two weeks after the departure of 
the squadron from the Bahamas it fell in with 
the British man-of-war Glasgow, which cleverly 
managed to escape after having inflicted more 
damage than she received in the action. 

It was a sorry beginning for the new navy, but 
a beginning that might have been expected. The 
ships were merely transformed merchantmen, and 
their officers not only without experience, but 
men who for the most part had received their 
appointments through the influence of powerful 
friends. Hopkins himself was a marked example 
of the advantage of having a friend at court. A 
brother of Governor Hopkins of Rhode Island, 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 21 

the most influential member of the first naval 
committee, he was merely an old sea captain with- 
out any marked ability in his new calling. He had 
the obstinacy and caution of the old ; and his 
inabiHty to grasp the details of new conditions left 
him bewildered and weak. 

On the nth of April the fleet anchored in the 
harbor of New London, and at once a storm of 
criticism broke out against the stupidity that had 
allowed the Glasgow to escape capture. Hopkins 
was bitterly assailed, and Captain Whipple, his 
brother-in-law, was court-martialed, but acquitted. 
Smallpox had broken out among the crews on their 
arrival in New London, at one time nearly two 
hundred being in the hospital. In this dark hour 
it was impossible to man the fleet, for many sailors 
had joined Washington's army, and many more 
had shipped on the numerous privateers that had 
been fitted out to scour the Eastern waters in their 
search for British merchantmen. 

Though Hopkins was later to become the bitter 
opponent of Paul Jones, it was he who was now 
to be instrumental in giving him a separate com- 
mand. On the back of his original commission 
as lieutenant, Hopkins wrote out a new commis- 
sion as captain, and gave him the command of the 
Providence. The first task that fell to him was to 



22 JOHN PAUL JONES 

take to New York the soldiers that Washington 
had lent to the navy. Having picked up a few 
sailors in the shipping-offices of that city, he re- 
turned to New London, where he secured a few 
more men who had been released from the small- 
pox hospital and continued his voyage to Provi- 
dence. Here he passed a short time in overhauKng 
his vessel. The Fly was in port, loaded with 
several heavy guns that were to be used in fortify- 
ing New York, and to Paul Jones fell the task of 
convoying her up the sound. Off Block Island 
he had a sharp encounter with the British frigate 
Cerberus, and not only succeeded in getting his 
convoy away in safety, but later, in a second en- 
gagement with the same frigate, delayed her long 
enough to keep her from capturing the Hispaniola, 
which was laden with stores for Washington's 
army. As the Cerberus mounted thirty-two guns 
and the Providence only twelve, both actions might 
well be called brilliant achievements for the com- 
mander of the little American vessel. Shortly 
after he was ordered to Boston to convoy a num- 
ber of merchantmen around Long Island and up 
the Delaware, and though Lord Howe's fleet had 
now arrived on the coast, he made the new venture 
without encountering the ships of the enemy, and 
by August I was again in Philadelphia. 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 23 

Much had happened in the capital city since 
he had sailed away from it in January. The 
Declaration of Independence had been signed, the 
colonies had definitely renounced all allegiance to 
Great Britain, and the new Continental Congress 
was now sitting. Jones set about obtaining a 
congressional confirmation of the captain's com- 
mission that Hopkins had given him in May. It 
was speedily granted, and on August 8 was signed 
by John Hancock, president of Congress. It is 
interesting to know that this was the first naval 
commission signed after the Declaration of In- 
dependence. 

The Eispaniola had by this time been purchased 
by Congress, and renamed the Hampden; and 
Joseph Hewes, once more in Philadelphia, per- 
suaded the naval committee to give her over to 
the command of Jones ; but Jones was unwilling 
to give up his old ship. He had been in company 
with the Eispaniola, and had then learned that 
in the matter of speed she was inferior to the 
Providence ; he was acute enough to see that, in 
the sort of warfare that the weak American navy 
could wage against the more powerful ships of 
Great Britain, speed was a more necessary quaHty 
than mere size. He stated his reasons for decHn- 
ing the ofier with so much clearness that the com- 



24 JOHN PAUL JONES 

mittee yielded to his wish. They did more. 
Ignoring whatever plans the commander in chief 
of the navy might have for his sterHng young 
captain, of their own accord they granted him 
liberty to cruise for six weeks or two months in 
any direction and for any purpose that in his judg- 
ment seemed best. No greater mark of confidence 
could have been given to a young officer. 

Leaving port on August 21, he laid his course 
to the east, and speedily captured the Sea Nymphy 
the Favorite, and the Britannia. All three prizes 
he sent home in safety. On September i, when 
nearing the coast of Bermuda, he sighted a fleet 
of vessels, and, believing the largest to be merely 
a merchantman, ran in close to cut her out. She 
proved to be the British frigate Solebay, of twenty- 
eight guns, and a fast sailer. Perceiving his dan- 
ger at last, Jones put about, with the frigate close 
at his heels. As she began firing, Jones hoisted 
his colors and returned the fire. At that the 
Englishman ran up the American ensign ; but the 
deception was too palpable, and Jones continued 
his flight, with the Englishman following and occa- 
sionally firing a shot. Under favoring conditions 
the frigate was speedier, and within four hours 
had come within musket-shot of the Providence. 
It was a critical moment, but Paul Jones was 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 25 

ready to meet it. Letting his own vessel gradually 
fall off from her windward course, he waited until 
the Solehay was well upon his windward quarter, 
and then suddenly put his own helm hard up, 
and was off before the wind before the Solehay 
could bring her guns to bear. With a fair wind 
the Httle Providence was more than a match for 
the enemy, and when darkness fell she was well 
out of danger. Yet it was a narrow escape, and 
the capture of Paul Jones at that moment would 
have deprived American naval history of one of 
its greatest glories. One does not care to think 
that on the 23d of September, 1779, Paul Jones 
might have been idly passing the day in the naval 
prison at Portsmouth, England, instead of winning 
one of the greatest naval engagements in history. 

After his escape from the Solehay, he directed 
his course to the north, and by the middle of Sep- 
tember was off the coast of Nova Scotia. On the 
morning of the 2 2d, entering the harbor of Canso, 
he recruited several sailors, sank one EngHsh 
fishing- vessel, burned another, and, capturing a 
third, completed her cargo with the fish he had 
taken from the others, and sent her home with a 
prize crew aboard. In Canso, learning that several 
other EngHsh fishing-vessels were in the neighbor- 
hood, he crossed the bay and ultimately captured 



26 JOHN PAUL JONES 

twelve. With a humanity that may seem incredible 
to-day, he left two of the vessels to the three hun- 
dred fishermen that he had captured in order that 
they might not be without means to reach Eng- 
land. In less than seven weeks he was back in 
Providence, in that brief period manning and send- 
ing home six captured brigantines, one ship, and 
one sloop, besides destroying eight other vessels. 

It was indeed a successful voyage, and served 
greatly to strengthen his reputation for efficiency. 
He found Hopkins still in port, vainly struggling 
to man his idle little fleet. In his desperation he 
had called upon the Rhode Island Assembly and 
even upon Congress itself to prohibit the fitting 
out of privateers ; but to no avail. The pay of the 
Continental seamen was small, and the promise of 
a share in the prize-money received from vessels 
captured by the privateers was a strong lure to men 
to serve on the latter. 

But to the navy it was a serious handicap, as 
Paul Jones himself was to learn when Hopkins, 
putting him in charge of the Alfred, the Provi- 
dence, and the Hampden, ordered him to sail north 
to the rescue of a hundred American prisoners who 
had been put to work in the coal mines of Isle 
Royale, Nova Scotia. He could not find the men 
to man his Httle fleet, and at last set out with only 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 27 

the Alfred and the Hampden, only to be compelled 
to return at the very beginning of the voyage 
through the carelessness of Captain Hacker, who 
ran the Hampden on the rocks just outside the 
harbor. 

After a short delay he was again at sea, now 
with the Alfred and the Providence, with the same 
captain in charge of the Providence who had come 
to grief in the Hampden. Again he failed Jones 
by timorously returning to Newport under cover 
of a fog. This time Jones did not turn back. 
The Alfred was insufficiently manned, and her crew 
was ill clad, but she kept on, only to find the harbor 
at Isle Royale already frozen over when at last 
she reached the mouth. With too few men to 
venture on a land attack, Jones dared not attempt 
the rescue of the prisoners. 

Thus the main purpose of the expedition was 
defeated, though Paul Jones was not to return 
without compensation for his disappointment. 
He had the quality of a great commander in that 
out of defeat he frequently built a ladder to new 
victory. He was dehghted with his crew, and 
they were devoted to him, and, though half clad, 
were eager for any venture. Off the coast of Nova 
Scotia he had captured a Liverpool ship, and 
shortly after he made a prize of the Mellish, a large 



28 JOHN PAUL JONES 

armed vessel with a number of marines and land 
troops aboard. She was bringing to America a 
thousand complete suits of uniforms for the British 
army, and these proved a boon to the half-clothed 
troops of Washington's army. Jones burned a 
British transport that had run ashore on the coast, 
and also burned the oil warehouses in the neighbor- 
hood. Off Isle Roy ale he captured three trans- 
ports and a fourth vessel loaded with oil and furs, 
and the following day captured a Liverpool priva- 
teer. His originally small crew having now been 
dangerously depleted by the men that he had 
transferred to his prizes, he laid his course for 
Boston. Shortly before reaching that city he 
encountered the British frigate Milford. Night 
was approaching when she drew near, but run- 
ning in between the frigate and his prizes, Jones 
lured her away from the latter by displaying a 
hght, and in the darkness of a stormy night escaped, 
reaching Boston the next day. All of his prizes 
except one small vessel came safely to port. 

It was the middle of December when Jones 
reached Boston, only to find that his successes 
were to go for naught before the resentment and 
jealousy of his superior ofiicer. Commodore Hop- 
kins, who had at last become an open enemy. He 
ordered Jones to give up the Alfred and to go 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 29 

back to the Providence, a much smaller vessel. To 
add to Jones's sense of the injustice of this order, 
he was soon to learn that the naval committee of 
Congress had made out a new list of appointments, 
and had placed him eighteenth on the list, though 
by order of appointment he should have been 
fifth at least. The list had been made out in 
October, while he was away on his first Northern 
cruise, and consequently before the news of his 
capable conduct of the expedition had come to 
the knowledge of the committee. Nevertheless, 
the ranking was unjust, though in fairness to the 
committee it should be said that Jones had at that 
time displayed none of his remarkable ability; 
and in the clash between the rival interests of the 
South and New England for position in the navy, 
the naval committee, hampered by want of means, 
had felt itself compelled to yield to the demands 
of those who had influence. Men who, like Jones, 
had no strong friends at the seat of government, 
fell by the way. 

Now that he had returned from his second 
Northern cruise with new successes to his credit, 
the naval committee in a way tried to atone for 
their previous indifference. Though they did not 
feel it in their power again to change the list, they 
now issued orders for him to take command of 



30 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Hopkins's fleet, and, proceeding with it to Pen- 
sacola, to make an attack upon that town, which 
was in the hands of the EngHsh. After that, he 
was told, he might visit different ports in the 
Southern colonies for the purpose of arousing the 
interest of the South in the navy and recruiting 
his ships with volunteers. However, they wrote, 
if in his judgment the time spent in visiting the 
Southern colonies might be better used in con- 
ducting an expedition to the coast of Africa with 
a part of the fleet, they granted him that liberty. 

It was an extraordinary order to give to a cap- 
tain who stood eighteenth on the naval list, for in 
effect it was to make Jones the head of the navy. 
Unhappily, it was to come to naught, for Hopkins 
refused to carry it out. Having himself received 
the same order, he immediately sent three of his 
best ships to sea, and thereupon informed Jones 
that, in the absence of those important vessels, it 
would be impossible to comply with the wishes of 
Congress. In his irritation and disappointment, 
Jones at once set out for Philadelphia to bring 
the case before the committee. 

He did so, but the ships were already away, and 
the plan fell through. Hopkins, meanwhile, had 
about run his course. His imprudence and dis- 
obedience at last compelled Congress to remove 



SOME EARLY VICTORIES 31 

him from his command, though he kept it long 
enough to vent his spite on Paul Jones once more 
before the latter was to sail for Europe and to 
gain his greatest glory. 

Upon a man like Paul Jones, keenly aware of 
his own ability and eager to exercise it in the 
cause of his adopted country, the effect of all these 
disappointments and heartburnings was unhappy. 
He became a man with an acute sense of having 
been unjustly treated. It colored his thoughts, 
and constantly cropped out in the letters that 
later he wrote to Morris, Hewes, and Franklin. 
Yet the main trouble lay not so much in the open 
hostility of any one person or in the indifference 
of the naval committee of Congress as in the 
chaotic state of all measures for prosecuting the 
war. 

Yet in all his turmoil of spirit and disappoint- 
ment over hopes .that ever fled from him, Paul 
Jones was not idle. He wrote frequently to Morris 
on the condition of the navy and the steps that 
should be taken to make it efficient, and always 
wrote wisely. It was at this period that he ad- 
vised the establishment of a naval academy ; and 
though that part of his plan was long delayed, 
many other recommendations of his were sooner 
adopted, and speedily proved his wisdom. 



CHAPTER in 

Preparing for Europe 

Though Paul Joneses visit to Philadelphia had 
not brought back to his command the scattered 
Eastern fleet, the visit had been of advantage to 
him. His plan for the reorganization of the navy- 
had been laid before the naval committee, and 
had undoubtedly increased his prestige with that 
body. It had already ordered that three vessels 
for the navy should be purchased in Boston, and 
on Jones's departure from Philadelphia in the 
spring of 1777 he carried with him the promise of 
the committee that he might command whichever 
vessel of the three he preferred. On his arrival in 
Boston he found that the hesitating marine board 
of Massachusetts had not yet purchased a ship. 
He spent several weeks in a vain attempt to hasten 
action in the matter, and at last wrote to the naval 
committee, suggesting that his prize, the Mellish, 
be fitted out for the service and turned over to 

32 



PREPARING FOR EUROPE 33 

him. Nothing was done in the matter, but on 
May 9 he received a letter from Congress, order- 
ing him to sail for Europe in the Amphitrite and 
take command of the Indien, a fine new frigate 
that was being built in Amsterdam under the 
direction of Silas Deane, at that time one of the 
American commissioners in Paris. Accompanying 
his orders, the naval committee sent the following 
recommendation to the commissioners : 

Philadelphia, 9th May, 1777. 

Honourable Gentlemen: — 

This letter is intended to be delivered to you by John Paul 
Jones, Esq., an active and brave commander in our Navy, 
who has already performed signal services in vessels of Httle 
force ; and in reward for his zeal, we have directed him to 
go on board the Amphitrite, a French ship of twenty guns 
. . . and with her to repair to France. He takes with 
him his commission, some officers and men, so that we 
hope he will, under that sanction, make some good prizes 
with the Amphitrite; but our design of sending him is 
(with the approbation of Congress) that you may purchase 
one of those fine frigates that Mr. Deane writes us you can 
get, and invest him with the command thereof as soon as 
possible. We hope you may not delay this business one 
moment, but purchase, in such port or place in Europe as 
it can be done with most convenience and dispatch, a fine, 
fast sailing frigate or larger ship. Direct Captain Jones 
where he must repair to, and he will take with him his 
officers and men towards manning her. . . . 

D 



34 JOHN PAUL JONES 

If you have any plan of service to be performed in Eu- 
rope by such a ship, that you think will be more for the 
interest and honour of the States than sending her out 
directly, Captain Jones is instructed to obey your orders; 
and, to save repetition, let him lay before you the instruc- 
tions we have given him, and furnish you with a copy thereof. 
You can then judge what it will be necessary to direct him 
in, and whatever you do will be approved, as it will un- 
doubtedly tend to promote the public service of this country. 

You will see by this step how much dependence Con- 
gress places on your advices ; and you must make it a point 
not to disappoint Captain Jones' wishes and expectations 
on this occasion. 

We are &c. 
[Signed] 
Robert Morris, 
Richard Henry Lee, 
The Honourable Benjamin Frank- Wm. Whipple, 

Un, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, Phil Livingston. 

Esquires, Commissioners, &c. 

It was a generous letter, and showed the dis- 
position of Congress to atone to Paul Jones for 
the many disappointments to which he had been 
subjected. Jones was naturally delighted, and 
by letter gave expression to his gratitude in the 
warmest terms. Immediately upon the receipt 
of the letter he set about collecting the men that 
he had been directed to take with him on the 
Amphitrite. He speedily got together a number 



PREPARING FOR EUROPE 35 

of his former crew on the Providence, now eager to 
serve with him again; but his old enemy, Hop- 
kins, not yet dismissed from his position as com- 
mander in chief of the navy, for the last time inter- 
fered with his commands. With an audacious dis- 
regard of the will of Congress that seems incredible, 
he now forced the recruits that Jones had col- 
lected to serve aboard the Warren, a vessel com- 
manded by his son. 

The loss of the men proved immaterial, for on 
Jones's arrival in Portsmouth, where the Amphi- 
trite lay, her French captain refused to receive 
him aboard except as a mere passenger. Jones 
immediately wrote to the naval committee for 
further instructions in the matter. Though the 
orders of the committee had been vague, Jones 
had clearly understood that he was to command 
the Amphitrite on her voyage back to France. 
However, it was plain that the committee had no 
power to make him her captain. She had been 
sent to America with a valuable cargo of ammu- 
nition and stores for the colonies. 

The matter was at a standstill, therefore, with 
Paul Jones still in Portsmouth, when Colonel 
Langdon of that port suggested to him that he 
get the authorities in Congress to offer him the 
command of the ship-of-war Ranger, which Colonel 



36 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Langdon was at the time building. It was done, 
and after the delay of a few weeks the naval com- 
mittee decided to take over the vessel and to 
place Jones in command. The resolution of Con- 
gress appointing Paul Jones to the command of 
the Ranger was passed on the 14th of June, 1777, 
and on the same day Congress also passed the 
following resolution: 

^^ Resolved: that the flag of the thirteen United 
States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, 
that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue 
field, representing a new constellation." 

The Ranger had good lines that indicated speed, 
and Paul Jones, delighted with her, entered 
eagerly upon the task of getting her ready for sea. 
She had been designed to carry twenty-six guns, 
but as that, in his opinion, was too many for a 
vessel of her size, she was finally equipped with 
eighteen six-pounders, as he advised. 

Early in July he wrote to friends in Providence 
and New Bedford to assist him in getting together 
a satisfactory crew, and July was half gone and 
the crew still lacking when he returned to Ports- 
mouth from Boston, whither he had gone to meet 
other officers of the service to decide on a uniform 
for the navy. Sailors were unwilling to sign the 
articles for more than a single cruise, as was usual 



PREPARING FOR EUROPE 37 

in the mercantile trade ; but this was an unsatis- 
factory method in a service where special training 
and discipline were needed, and the success of a 
ship in a long war depended largely on the stability 
of her crew. Congress had promised an advance 
of twenty dollars to all sailors signing the articles 
only on the condition that they signed for a longer 
period than one voyage ; but this being no lure to 
seamen, to hasten the completion of his crew, 
Captain Jones now not only agreed to pay the 
advance himself, but also arranged to leave in 
Boston a sum of money sufficient to permit the 
famines of the men to draw half their monthly 
wages during their absence. It was not only a 
generous and patriotic act, but it was wise in that 
sort of wisdom that knows human nature. It 
counted on the contentment that comes to a man 
who knows that his family is being looked after 
however long he may be away. 

While busily engaged in getting his crew and 
equipping his ship, yet harassed in mind by delay 
after delay, Jones still found time to write to 
Robert Morris his well-worked-out ideas of the 
best methods of carrying on naval operations 
against England. Finding that the small navy of 
the country was wholly inadequate to protect the 
American coast, he advocated the plan of striking 



38 JOHN PAUL JONES 

at the defenseless parts of England. The English 
were subject to panic, he wrote, and he took an 
almost boyish delight in the thought of stirring 
all England by laying her ports under contribution 
and destroying the shipping in the harbors. It 
was the idea that he subsequently carried out, and 
all the world may read with what surprised rage 
England viewed the experiment. A taste of that 
sort of warfare was not relished in the land that 
had employed it most extensively, and in English 
histories and traditions Paul Jones is still the 
supreme pirate. 

The 2d of November saw the Ranger ready for 
sea, and on that day, with the new stars and 
stripes over her, Paul Jones left the port, sailing 
for France. It has often been written that he 
was the first man to hoist the new national ensign 
on an American vessel, but this is a tradition that 
seems doubtful. Certainly he never made the 
claim for himself, and he was hardly the man to 
omit to mention so interesting a fact had it been 
true. It seems quite enough to say that he was 
shortly to make that flag glorious. 



CHAPTER IV 
Saluting the Stars and Stripes 

John Paul Jones was a month in making the 
voyage to France. The Ranger proved a great 
disappointment, being both slow and cranky. 
In addition to this cause for discouragement, her 
alert captain had much to bear from the incom- 
petence of his crew, and having to bear most from 
a quarter where he had reason to expect his chief 
aid and reliance. For Simpson, his first oJB&cer, 
was not only inefficient, but insubordinate, and 
these unhappy qualities reacted upon the crew. 

In the way of business the voyage was not 
wholly without incident, for on the way over, when 
nearing the coast, the ship secured two prizes, 
brigantines from Malaga carrying wine and fruit; 
and nearing the French coast, she fell in with a 
fleet of ten vessels under the convoy of the In- 
vincible, a British line-of-battle ship of seventy-four 

39 



40 JOHN PAUL JONES 

guns. Naturally, she was invincible enough for 
the Httle Ranger, with only eighteen guns of small 
caliber and too short in the barrel for effective 
work; yet for two days Captain Jones followed 
the fleet in the hope of cutting out one of the 
merchantmen at least. They kept so close to the 
Invincible, however, that the chance of securing a 
prize never came; so the chase was abandoned, 
and Jones sailed for the coast of France. On 
November 29 the ship ran into heavy weather, 
and in the Bay of Biscay hove to ; but the gale 
soon passed, and shortly after they sighted land, 
and the next day came to anchor in the river 
Loire, at the little port of Paimboeuf, not far 
from the city of Nantes. The next day they sailed 
up to Nantes, and on the following day, which 
was the 4th of December, Captain Jones wrote to 
the American commissioners in Paris, announcing 
his arrival and his eagerness for service. He 
wrote in detail of his plan to attack the defenseless 
places on the English coast, and sent a confirma- 
tion of the news of the capture of Burgoyne and 
his army that John Loring Austin had carried to 
the commissioners on November 30. This victory 
had materially moved the hesitating French 
Government to make an alKance with the revolt- 
ing colonies in America. 



SALUTING THE STARS AND STRIPES 41 

While waiting for word from the commissioners, 
Captain Jones busied himself in remedying the 
defects in the Ranger. He took on a large quantity 
of lead, and otherwise altered her trim by re- 
arranging her ballast ; he also shortened her lower 
masts by several feet, thereby greatly increasing 
her power and speed. His practical seamanship 
was of a high order, and he could always be trusted 
to make the most of the possibiHties of a ship. 

It was probably not until January, or at least 
late in December, that the commissioners sum- 
moned him to Paris to explain more clearly all his 
plans for making a descent on the English coast. 
Something of the sort had already been tried by 
daring American commanders, and though they 
had been successful in destroying the enemy's 
shipping, they had not attacked towns, and all in 
a way had come to grief in the end. Captain 
Lambert Wickes, who had brought Franklin to 
Europe in the Reprisal, had sailed her around 
Great Britain and taken many prizes. Later, 
Captain H. Johnston had joined him with the 
Lexington, and for a season they had cruised 
together with success; but Wilkes had not been 
allowed to enter French ports with his prizes, and 
finally the commissioners had ordered him home, 
only to be lost at sea on his way. Gustavus 



42 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Conyingham had almost equaled the later fame of 
Jones in the daring attacks that he made upon 
EngHsh vessels in their own waters. His last 
exploit had been the capture of the packet that 
sailed between Harwich, in England, and Holland. 
Unhappily, he had been foolhardy enough to take 
his prize into the open port of Dunkirk, and in 
consequence had been thrown into prison. Hav- 
ing been released, he had sailed in another adven- 
ture, but had again been captured, and had been 
imprisoned in England. 

But Paul Jones's idea had gone further. In his 
opinion far more damage could be done to an 
enemy's shipping by attacking it in the home ports 
than by haphazard cruising along the broad paths 
of the sea that the enemy's ships might be sup- 
posed to take. That he succeeded in stirring the 
serenity of England as it had never been stirred 
before every one knows. It was one' of the things 
he predicted. 

On reaching Paris, the long list of his disap- 
pointments was to be added to, for, as has already 
been related, he had confidently expected, on 
arrival in France, to be placed in command of the 
Indien, the large ship-of-war then building in 
Amsterdam. The plan had been kept secret, for 
though England and France were drifting toward 



SALUTING THE STARS AND STRIPES 43 \ 

war, they were yet nominally at peace, and France | 
was still delaying to enter into an alliance with 

America. By chance, it was said, the British am- | 

bassador at The Hague had learned of the secret | 

destination of the Indien from the chance view of j 

papers on the desk of the American agents in \ 

Amsterdam. To prevent her seizure by the ; 

British, it was thought necessary to transfer her j 

to the French Government at once. Thus the | 

old plan came to an end, and Paul Jones lost his i 

coveted ship. He did not give up all hope, but | 

he knew that nothing could be done at that time ; \ 

therefore he hastened back to the Ranger. How | 
well and manfully he accepted his disappointment 

may be read in his note to the commissioners I 

when the first rumors of the loss of the Indien j 

came to him in Nantes, before setting out for j 
Paris. He generously wrote : 

''I understand that the commissioners had i 
provided for me one of the finest ships that ever 

was built, but were under the necessity of giving \ 

her up. My unfeigned thanks are equally due for ! 

the intention as for the act." ' 

Flis disappointment in losing the Indien was \ 
not to end here, however, for, like most disap- 
pointments, it acted in more than one direction. 

Simpson, his first officer, had been promised the i 



44 JOHN PAUL JONES 

command of the Ranger when Jones took com- 
mand of the Indien; and now, finding Jones re- 
turned to the Ranger and his own hopes blasted, 
Simpson became embittered. Never a good officer, 
he now became a worse one, and as long as he 
remained with Jones he was always an active 
agent of disobedience and contention. 

It was one of the striking qualities of Paul 
Jones that forced inaction always seemed to stir 
his keen intellect into new channels of activity. 
He never moped ; he simply turned to new schemes. 
Shortly after his return to Nantes, while still wait- 
ing for the changes in the Ranger to be made, 
he learned from a Nantucket privateer enough 
about the inferiority of Lord Howe's fleet in 
America to lead him to beHeve that a strong fleet 
from France might easily surprise and capture it. 
The fleet was then operating in the Delaware. 
That captured, he wrote to the commissioners, the 
French fleet might then sail for New York, and 
there entrap Admiral Byron's fleet when it arrived. 
France thus might, with a single blow, bring Great 
Britain to her feet, thereafter *'to abandon her 
boast of being Mistress of the Seas." 

When the Comte d'OrvilHers, the admiral of 
the great French fleet in Brest, later learned of the 
plan from Jones, he gave it his emphatic approval, 



SALUTING THE STARS AND STRIPES 45 

and in a letter to the French minister of marine 
advised that the project be adopted at once. 
But the French delayed, and when finally they 
moved in the matter, the fleet in Toulon, under the 
command of Admiral Comte d'Estaing, was sent, 
instead of the nearer fleet at Brest, and long before 
it reached America, Lord Howe had learned of the 
expedition. He evacuated Philadelphia and left 
the Delaware River only a few days before the 
arrival of the French fleet at the mouth of the 
river. D'Estaing followed him to New York. 
Washington had sent Hamilton and Laurens out 
to Sandy Hook to consult with the admiral and 
urge him to attack Howe, but neither the pilots 
with Hamilton nor those Comte d'Estaing had 
brought from the Delaware would venture to take 
the larger ships across the bar. It is said that the 
count jumped into a small boat and tried to find 
the channel himself, but failed. Had the fleet 
gone to America when the plan was first proposed, 
the war might then and there have been brought 
to an end. But the glory of the plan belongs to 
Paul Jones. The pity is that so skillful a captain 
of fleets was forever doomed to small enterprises 
and a few poorly manned and equipped ships. 

Meanwhile, he had not neglected his one small 
vessel, and fully overhauled, she sailed from 



46 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Nantes on February 12, 1778, and arrived at 
Quiberon the next morning. She had convoyed 
a number of American trading- vessels to Quiberon, 
where many had gathered to be under the protec- 
tion of the large squadron of the French navy that 
lay at that port and would convoy them past 
Cape Finisterre on their way to America. It was 
blowing heavily when the Ranger hove to off the 
harbor, but instead of keeping on to the anchorage, 
Jones sent a boat ashore with a letter to the Ameri- 
can agent in the town, who was asked to inform 
La Motte Piquet, admiral of the French fleet, of 
Jones's intention of saluting the French fleet on 
his entering the harbor the next morning, and 
requested that the salute be returned. 

To this communication Admiral La Motte 
Piquet courteously replied that he would return 
the salute, but with four guns fewer than he re- 
ceived, as that was the custom in the French navy 
in returning the salute of vessels of a republic. 
Thereupon Jones replied, addressing his letter to 
the American agent: 

Dear Sir: 

I am extremely sorry to give you fresh trouble, but I 
think the admiral's answer of yesterday requires an expla- 
nation. The haughty English return gun for gun to foreign 
officers of equal rank, and two less only to captains by flag 



SALUTING THE STARS AND STRIPES 47 

officers. It is true, my command at present is not impor- 
tant, yet, as the senior American officer at present in Europe, 
it is my duty to claim an equal return of respect to the flag 
of the United States that would be shown to any other flag 
whatever. 

I therefore take the liberty of inclosing an appointment, 
perhaps as respectable as any which the French admiral 
can produce ; besides which, I have others in my possession. 

If, however, he persists in refusing to return an equal 
salute, I will accept of two guns less, as I have not the rank 
of admiral. 

It is my opinion that he would return four less to a 
privateer or a merchant ship; therefore, as I have been 
honoured oftener than once with a chief command of ships 
of war, I cannot in honour accept of the same terms of 
respect. 

You wiU singularly oblige me by waiting upon the ad- 
miral ; and I ardently hope you will succeed in the applica- 
tion, else I shall be under a necessity of departing without 
coming into the bay. 

I have the honour to be, etc. 
To William Carmichael, Esq. 

N.B. — Though thirteen guns is your greatest salute in 
America, yet if the French admiral should prefer a greater 
number he has his choice on conditions. 

It was a nice point of naval etiquette, he felt, 
and on such points Paul Jones was the sort of man 
to uphold his own dignity and with it the dignity 
of his adopted country; but later in the day, 
however, learning that the French admiral was 



48 JOHN PAUL JONES 

right as to the custom of France in such cases, he 
wisely yielded his point, clearly seeing that the 
salute was the main thing rather than a specific 
number of guns. In either case it would be a 
notable recognition of a new nation. In the late 
afternoon of the 14th of February, therefore, the 
Ranger got under way and beat into the harbor. 
When she drew abreast of the huge French flag- 
ship, in the dusky close of the day, Captain Jones 
backed his main-topsail and fired a salute of thir- 
teen guns, which the French commander imme- 
diately returned with the promised salute of nine. 
It was the first salute ever fired in honor of the 
Stars and Stripes, and, indeed, the first official 
recognition of American independence by a for- 
eign country. A year before the Dutch governor 
of St. Eustatius had saluted an American ensign, 
— not of course, the Stars and Stripes, — but he 
had been recalled for the act, and his salute had 
been repudiated. But now there was to be no 
disavowal. That the light of the deed should not 
be hidden under a bushel, as it were, Jones sent 
word to La Motte Piquet that as he had entered 
the harbor so late at night, it was his intention 
on the following day to pass through his whole 
fleet with the brig Independence, a privateer tem- 
porarily attached to his command, and repeat the 




Tablet on Badger's Island 

This fine tablet, on Badger's Island, near Portsmouth, N. H., com- 
memorates John Paul Jones and his famous Uttle ship Ranger. 



SALUTING THE STARS AND STRIPES 49 

salute. With great good humor and courtesy, La 
Motte Piquet replied that he would respond. It 
was done, and in a way it was the announcement 
that a new nation had taken its place among the 
naval powers of the world. There was something 
almost boy like in Paul Jones's exultation, which 
crops out in the letter, written a week later, to 
the marine committee of Congress in which he 
relates the story of the deed. In another place, 
with outspoken commendation of the courage shown 
by La Motte Piquet for his share in the action, 
Jones declares that at the time neither he nor the 
French admiral had been aware that the long- 
discussed treaty of alliance between France and 
the United States had been signed. It had really 
been signed only six days before. 

Having placed his convoy in the charge of the 
French admiral, Jones proceeded to Brest, where 
he had the pleasure of receiving the salute of the 
Bretagne, the flagship of Comte d'Orvilliers's great 
fleet. Here he had the opportunity to interest the 
admiral in his proposed expedition against Lord 
Howe's fleet, of which the admiral thought highly. 
Indeed, he was so greatly impressed with Paul 
Jones that, upon learning of his disappointment in 
the Indien affair, he offered to procure Jones a 
commission as captain in the French navy, and 



50 JOHN PAUL JONES 

promised to assign him to a large frigate. It was 
a great opportunity for the commander of the 
little Ranger, and had he been the mere ''gentle- 
man of fortune" that the British long angrily 
declared, no one can question that he would have 
accepted at once ; for the French fleet was then 
powerful, and with the influence of the Comte 
d'Orvilliers behind him, his own great ability would 
undoubtedly have carried him far. Of this ability 
Paul Jones himself had never been doubtful, nor was 
he less keen in seeing the advantage of powerful 
influence ; yet now, to his great honor, he decisively 
refused to consider the offer. His loyalty to the 
convictions that had led him to cast in his lot 
with the struggHng colonies cannot be questioned. 
D'Orvilliers remained constantly his friend. 
He not only introduced him to M. de Sartine, the 
French minister of marine, and gave him every 
assurance that M. de Sartine would yet turn over 
the Indien to him, but he assured him that in that 
case he himself would secure four hundred French 
sailors to make up his crew. In the matter of 
saluting he generously returned eleven guns in- 
stead of the nine La Motte Piquet had returned. 
It was therefore with high hopes and courage that 
Paul Jones at last, on April lo, set out from Brest 
on the first descent on the English coast. 



CHAPTER V 

Fights in the Irish Sea 

He sailed on April lo, and on the 14th, some- 
where between Cape Clear and the Scilly Islands, 
he captured a brigantine bound from Ireland to 
Ostend with a cargo of flaxseed. As neither vessel 
nor cargo was of value, he burned them. Three 
days later he took the ship Lord Chatham, loaded 
with porter and general cargo, and sent her into 
Brest. On the next day, while off the Isle of Man, 
the wind being favorable and the day clear, he 
laid his course for Whitehaven, the port from which, 
when a boy of twelve, he had first set out on his 
seafaring. He has often been criticized for his 
attacks upon what was virtually his home port, 
though the criticism is unjust. No ties held him 
to the place, and doubtless he based his reason 
for making his descent there on the sensible one 
that he knew the harbor and its unprotected state. 
He approached the town after nightfall, and had 
already manned his boats to go in, when, at eleven, 

SI 



52 JOHN PAUL JONES 

the wind suddenly shifted and blew hard toward 
the shore, not only making a landing for his boats 
difficult, but bringing his vessel into danger through 
his nearness to a lee shore. There was nothing 
for him -to do but to swing his boats aboard again 
and crowd on sail to escape being driven ashore. 

Off the Mull of Galloway the next morning he 
captured and sank a schooner loaded with barley. 
Learning from the crew of the schooner that ten 
or twelve large vessels, with only a small tender 
for protector, lay at that time at Loughryan, in 
Scotland, Jones ran for the port; but again the 
wind shifted, and a sharp squall drove him back. 
He fell in with an Irish fishing-boat or so, and from 
the captured fishermen learned that the ship 
that he could see at anchor in Belfast Lough was 
the British sloop-of-war Drake, of twenty guns. 
That was game more to his liking, and he at once 
planned her capture in a manner both daring and 
brilliant. Beating back and forth offshore until 
darkness fell, he then ran into the harbor, mean- 
ing to lay the Ranger squarely across the bow of 
the Drake, drop his own anchor, and then capture 
the Drake by boarding her over the bow. 

It was blowing hard when the Ranger, under 
shortened sail, entered the harbor and drew close 
to the Drake. The crew had been mustered to 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 53 

their stations, the boarding party with pikes, cut- 
lasses, and pistols, and the best shots of the crew 
stationed with muskets to sweep the deck of the 
Drake with gun-fire, when Jones with masterly- 
skill brought the Ranger in exactly the right posi- 
tion and gave the order to let go the anchor. 
Through the stupidity of a drunken boatswain, 
it is said, the anchor was not let go soon enough, 
and the Ranger, dropping back swiftly in the gale 
that was blowing, did not come up on her cable 
until she had passed the Drake's quarter, where 
she lay exposed to the broadside of the English- 
man, but unable to fire in return. Fortunately 
for the Ranger, Captain Burdon of the Drake 
was far from being alert as well as exceedingly 
careless. The Ranger bore no warHke appearance 
and had given no alarm, of course, and in the dark- 
ness of a windy night was mistaken for a clumsy 
merchantman. ^'AU this," as Jones afterward 
wrote, ''determined me to cut immediately, which 
might appear as if the cable had parted, and at 
the same time enabling me, after making attack 
out of the Lough, to return, with the same pros- 
pect of advantage which I had at the first." 

However, though the cable was thus cut with- 
out suspicion, and the Ranger dropped away in 
the friendly darkness, the plan to return came to 



54 JOHN PAUL JONES 

naught; for the wind increasing to a gale, the 
Ranger was with difficuhy saved from drifting 
upon the rocks by the Hghthouse. For two days 
the gale continued, with high seas, and when it 
broke, on the 2 2d, and the weather came fair 
again, the three kingdoms, as Paul Jones wrote, 
''as far as the eye could reach were covered with 
snow." 

After escaping from Belfast, the Ranger beat 
across to Scotland, to ride out the gale under the 
lee of the land; but when on the 2 2d the day 
broke clear, Whitehaven once more called to Paul 
Jones. The wind was fair, and squaring his 
yards. Captain Jones laid his course for that town. 
But the wind did not hold, and it was not until 
midnight that he anchored off the harbor, and his 
boats were lowered for the expedition. Thirty- 
one men manned the two boats, with Jones in 
charge of one and Lieutenant Wallingford of the 
other. Simpson and the second Heu tenant had 
remained on the Ranger, giving illness and fatigue 
as their reason for not taking part in the foray. 
The tide was running out, and against its strong 
ebb the boats made slow headway ; dawn had 
almost come when they at last gained the inner 
harbor, divided at that time into two parts by 
a long stone pier. On the north side of the pier 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 55 

lay from seventy to a hundred vessels, and on the 
south side perhaps twice as many, ranging in size 
from two hundred to four hundred tons. The tide 
was low, and the vessels lay high and dry on the 
beach, closely grouped. 

Ordering Lieutenant Wallingford to set fire to 
the shipping on the north side of the pier, Jones 
with his boat-crew marched on the fort that 
defended the entrance to the harbor. The fort 
was old, and was manned by only a few men. As 
the morning was raw and cold, the sentry, in his 
blissful trust that sentry-duty in peaceful England 
was wholly unnecessary, had retired to the sentry- 
box, and probably to sleep, for no one gave the 
alarm at the approach of the party. When they 
came to the walls of the fort, Jones, climbing to 
the shoulders of one of his men, pulled himself to 
the rampart, and the others followed. The small 
garrison was completely surprised and surrendered 
without striking a blow. The guns were then 
spiked. Day was now coming, and the need of 
haste imperative, so ordering the prisoners to 
be taken to the boats, Jones, with a lieutenant 
named Green, walked half a mile to a second small 
fort, and without opposition spiked its few guns 
and then hastened back to the landing. 

It was with great surprise and disappointment 



56 JOHN PAUL JONES 

that Jones, returning, saw no sign of fire among 
the vessels on the beach. He found Walhngford 
and his boat-crew back at their boat, and to his 
sharp question Walhngford explained his failure 
by sa3dng that his lights had gone out. There 
were of course no matches at that time, and lan- 
terns, with candles, had been carried ashore with 
which to start the fire on the vessels. The candles 
of the other boat-crew had also gone out. Wall- 
ingford tried to lighten the gloom of the situation, 
at least, by naively declaring that, anyway, he 
could not see what good there was in burning the 
property of poor people ! 

Now Paul Jones saw his brilliantly planned 
enterprise, despite its promising opening, doomed 
to failure. Full day had come at last, and a regard 
for the safety of the party demanded an immediate 
return to the Ranger. Yet he was unwilHng to 
retire wholly defeated. Leaving a guard for the 
boats, he sent messengers to a neighboring house 
for a light. When they returned with glowing 
embers, with his own hand he started a blaze 
in one of the largest vessels on the beach, about 
which lay huddled a number of other vessels. 
A barrel of tar, found on another vessel, was fed 
to the flames. 

One of the landing-party had been an EngHsh- 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 57 

man named David Freeman. In the confusion 
about the boats he had managed to escape from 
the party, and had given a warning to the towns- 
people. Now as the fire on the one vessel gath- 
ered headway, the inhabitants began to appear. 
Jones ordered his men to the boats, but that the 
fire might not be put out until all hope of sav- 
ing the one vessel was gone, he himself, with a 
drawn pistol in his hand, ordered the oncoming 
crowd back. It obeyed. Only when he saw that 
the fired ship could not be saved did he retire. 
Though he had failed through the fault of others 
to destroy the shipping while it lay waiting to his 
hand, his exploit created the greatest consterna- 
tion in England. England had slept secure for 
ages ; with the loss of that sense of security arose 
a mighty clamor for the capture of the man who 
had brought war to the shores of England. As he 
stood there facing the crowd in Whitehaven har- 
bor, alone, calm, and indomitable, he was in a 
way a heroic figure. He has written up his thoughts 
at that moment and later : 

" After all my people had embarked, I stood alone 
upon the pier for a considerable time, yet no per- 
son advanced. I saw all the eminences around the 
town covered with the amazed inhabitants. When 
we had rowed to a considerable distance from the 



58 JOHN PAUL JONES 

shore, the English began to run in vast numbers 
to their forts. Their disappointment may easily 
be imagined when they found at least thirty 
heavy cannon, the instruments of their vengeance, 
rendered useless. At length, however, they began 
to fire, having, as I apprehend, either brought 
down ship's guns or used one or two cannon which 
lay on the beach and which had not been spiked. 
They fired with no direction, and the shot, fall- 
ing short of the boats, instead of doing us any 
damage, afforded some diversion, which my people 
could not help showing by discharging their pistols, 
etc., in return of the salute. Had it been possible 
to have landed a few hours sooner, my success 
would have been complete. Not a single ship 
out of more than two hundred could possibly 
have escaped, and all the world would not have 
been able to save the town. What was done, how- 
ever, is sufficient to show that not all their boasted 
navy can protect their own coast, and that the 
scenes of distress which they have occasioned to 
America may be soon brought home to their own 
door." 

From Whitehaven the Ranger ran across the 
Solway to St. Mary's Isle, the seat of the Earl 
of Selkirk, where Jones had passed many hours 
of his boyhood. His purpose was not the destruc- 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 59 

tion of property, but to capture the earl himself. 
The wretched condition of Americans in British 
prisons had long stirred his pity, and he thought 
that if by any chance he could capture some 
prominent Englishman, the British might be led 
to consider the question of exchange, which they 
had thus far resolutely refused to do. That he 
had another more personal reason for making the 
raid, as some of his biographers have argued, has 
certainly not been proved by them. 

Anchoring off St. Mary's Isle, Captain Jones 
sent two boats ashore. Lieutenants Simpson and 
Hall, now miraculously recovered from the ill- 
ness that had detained them aboard the Ranger 
during its more perilous attack on Whitehaven, 
had charge of the boats, with Jones himself in 
command of the whole party. Before going to 
the hall, Jones learned that Lord Selkirk was 
absent, and thereupon expressed his intention 
of returning at once to his ship. His men muti- 
nously protested, and demanded that they be al- 
lowed to secure whatever plunder might be found. 
It was a difficult situation. Jones knew by what 
a slender thread he held the men of the crew, and 
that mutiny always lay just below the surface. 
He had had no opportunity to choose his own 
ofhcers, and poor as most of them were, he saw no 



6o JOHN PAUL JONES 

way to obtain better. Eager to serve his country, 
harass England, and gain fame for himself, he now 
felt the need of holding his men together as best 
he could or give up his chances for success. He 
finally yielded to their demands, therefore, and 
agreed to permit them to demand the family sil- 
ver, though this he did with the intention of re- 
purchasing the silver and returning it to Lord 
Selkirk when the prize was disposed of. By 
Jones's orders, only Simpson and Hall were to enter 
the house. 

The two lieutenants were ushered into the pres- 
ence of Lady Selkirk, made their demands for 
the silver, and, having secured it, departed without 
taking other plunder and without harming any 
one. Shortly after their return to the ship, the 
Ranger departed. 

Standing away from the Scottish coast, she laid 
her course toward Ireland again, and late in the 
afternoon came in sight of Carrickfergus, where 
her old enemy, the Drake, lay at anchor. The 
captain of the Drake had been warned of the pres- 
ence of Paul Jones, and when the Ranger drew 
near to the harbor. Captain Burdon, with what 
seems incredible folly, dispatched a lieutenant 
and a boat toward the Ranger to investigate the 
stranger and bring back a report. Meanwhile 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 6i 

the Drake was got under way and her decks cleared 
for action. To add to the folly of her commander, 
the lieutenant who had been sent out with the 
boat went alongside the Ranger, and quite naturally 
then and there ended his investigation by being 
captured. As the Drake was weighing anchor, 
Lieutenant Dobbs, who had been recruiting in 
the neighborhood, boarded her with several volun- 
teers, though whether with ten or forty is not 
certain. 

The Drake usually carried one hundred and 
fifty officers and men ; but Lieutenant Dobbs's 
party had raised this number somewhat, though a 
lieutenant and a boat's crew had been lost through 
a foolish curiosity. The Drake carried two more 
guns than the Ranger, but as they were only four- 
pounders, the difference was not material. At a 
court-martial that was held several months later 
it was said of the Drake that she lacked her full 
number of officers and seamen, that her powder 
was bad, her matches were poor, her cartridges 
not filled, and her guns badly mounted. Yet the 
two ships were probably as well matched as one 
could expect in ships meeting by chance. Cer- 
tainly the quality of the crew of the Drake could 
not have been worse than that of the crew of the 
Ranger. Jones has recorded in his journal that 



62 JOHN PAUL JONES 

he stood in peril of his Hfe, as his crew, under the 
leadership of Simpson, was mutinous at the thought 
of fighting a battle with a real man-of-war. Their 
ideal of war was the capture of merchantmen, 
with subsequent prizes for a balm. However, he 
got them to their quarters at last by the wonder- 
ful power that he possessed at such times, and 
once there, and the fight fairly on, they appear 
to have acquitted themselves well. 

The wind was blowing on shore, and the Drake 
was long in beating to sea. While Jones awaited 
her coming, he ordered his guns to be run in, giving 
his ship much the appearance of a merchantman. 
The Ranger had hoisted the English flag at the 
approach of the Drake's boat, and her too-trusting 
officer had reached the deck of the Ranger before 
he suspected her nature, so cleverly had Jones 
played his assumed part. It was always a great 
joy to him, this assumption of a false role in the 
preliminary moments of a battle. 

The tide was against her as well as the wind, 
so the Drake worked out slowly; but at last 
she weathered a point and drew near to mid-chan- 
nel. When she was well away from the land, 
Jones saw that the moment to fight had arrived, 
and so waited her coming. It was late in the 
afternoon when the Drake neared the Ranger, and 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 63 

a moment later, when well within hailing distance, 
she hoisted English colors, and immediately after 
the American ensign was displayed on the Ranger. 
''I expected that preface had now been at an end," 
Jones wrote, in describing the battle, ''but the 
enemy soon after hailed, demanding what ship 
it was. I directed the master to answer, 'The 
American Continental ship Ranger; that we waited 
for them and desired that they would come on; 
the §un was now a little more than an hour from 
setting, and it was therefore time to begin.'" 

Jones was often rhetorical, and this reply seems 
amusingly formal and studied, but doubtless it 
served its purpose to bring the Drake nearer to the 
position Jones wished her to take before opening 
fire. As though the right moment had come, 
while the Drake was now astern of the Ranger^ 
Jones ordered his helm hard up, and as the Ranger 
swung across the bow of the Drake, she raked the 
Englishman with a broadside at short range. It 
was the first blow and a severe one. The English 
captain tried to cross the stern of the Ranger, but 
without success, and the fight then became a series 
of broadsides, with the two ships saiHng side by 
side, but gradually drawing nearer. 

The fight lasted for an hour and four minutes, 
when the EngHsh ship called for quarter, being 



64 JOHN PAUL JONES 

virtually a wreck. Her sails and rigging were 
wholly cut to pieces ; and her hull was much dam- 
aged. Both the captain and first officer had been 
killed. Forty- two men in all had been killed, 
according to Jones's statement, though the English 
accounts of the fight gave the number as twenty- 
five. Only two men had been killed on the Ranger y 
though a wounded man died later. The Lieutenant 
Wallingford who had failed in firing the shipping 
of Whitehaven was one of the dead. 

From the first it was Jones's victory. What- 
ever lack of preparedness there may have been on 
the Drake, as was claimed in the subsequent court- 
martial of her survivors, was fully offset by serious 
defects on the Ranger, whose guns were too short 
in the barrel, while both Simpson and Hall, her first 
and second Ueutenants, were serving for the first 
time on a ship-of-war. The quality of the crew, 
also, was bad, and that through no fault of her 
commander. 

Yet it was a spectacular victory. An open 
fight on the enemy's coast, in full view of thousands 
of watchers, at the close of a spring day, it had all 
the qualities of a perfect setting. Its effect on 
England was tremendous. Residents on the coast 
prepared to remove their belongings to places of 
greater security, and bankers packed up their 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 65 

gold and withdrew to the interior. England was 
soon dotted with militia-camps, and when ParHa- 
ment closed in June, members hastened not to 
their country pleasures, but to their regiments. 
"Camps everywhere," Walpole wrote, "and the 
ladies in the uniform of their husbands. All the 
world are poHticians or soldiers or both ; servants 
are learning to fire all day long." It was not all 
in consternation, of course, though the first cause 
had been that; it became later a fashionable 
amusement. 

But a sense of insecurity had come to the Eng- 
lish people. The American war had never been 
popular with the nation. An incapable ministry 
and a dull king had brought that about, but the 
people had either disapproved or treated with 
more or less indifference a contest, remote and 
trivial, that seemed merely the vain uprising of a 
few farmers, easily to be put down and forgotten. 
But now that the Englishman saw that the ship- 
ping in his ports could be fired, his invincible ships 
of war beaten in home waters, and even the peers 
of the realm in danger in their sacred homes, an 
unreasonable panic seized him. This terror passed, 
of course, and a lighter spirit followed, but the 
great cause of it all, Paul Jones, was long to remain 
the bugbear of English tradition. Chap-books 



66 JOHN PAUL JONES 

and broadsides pictured him in absurd scenes — 
a wild piratical creature, coarse and ferocious, 
with cutlass in hand, and with his belt stuck full 
of pistols, raging about a bloody deck. 

Had the war ended differently, Paul Jones 
might have been hanged as a rebel, as Washington 
and Hamilton and Jefferson might have been 
hanged; but a victory that brought Washington, 
Hamilton, and Jefferson both a dignified respect 
and honor brought no change in regard to Jones 
in the EngKsh mind. That he was a fully commis- 
sioned officer in the naval service of the United 
States when he made his descent upon England 
made no difference. He had shocked the age-long 
sense of English security at home ; that could not 
be pardoned. 

Night had fallen when the fight ended, and 
as the weather continued favorable, the two vessels 
were hove to where they lay. The crew of the 
Ranger spent the night and a part of the next day 
in refitting the Drake and repairing what small 
damage had been done to their own vessel. The 
work was not interfered with, as no hostile ship 
was in the neighborhood. Late in the afternoon 
a Whitehaven brigantine, moved by an unhappy 
curiosity, approached the two ships too closely, 
was brought to by a shot from the Drake, and was 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 67 

captured. That was the only incident of the 
delay. 

Jones had intended to return to Brest through 
St. George's Channel, the way he had come, but 
the wind changing for the worse by the time his 
repairs were completed, he headed for the north, 
meaning to skirt Ireland. By sunset on the day 
following the battle he was again off Belfast Lough, 
where, on the 21st, he had captured the crew of 
an Irish fisherman. Now being near their home, 
he again showed that quality of mercy to his 
prisoners that had always distinguished him. He 
gave them a boat belonging to the Drake, with 
money sufficient to buy anew all that had been 
lost, and sent them ashore. They carried with 
them, by his wish, one of the sails of the Drake 
as a proof of their story of what they had seen. 
As they passed under the stern of the Ranger, the 
happy fishermen left him with three hearty cheers 
of gratitude. 

The Drake was towed around Ireland by the 
Ranger. Simpson had been put in charge of her, 
and had received instructions from Jones that 
when under his own sail he was to keep close to 
the Ranger, and be ready to render assistance in 
case any British war-ships appeared; but should 
any unavoidable separation come about, to pro- 



68 JOHN PAUL JONES 

ceed at once to Brest. All was uneventful until 
off Ushant, near Brest, on May 5, a sail was 
sighted. Casting off the tow-line of the Drake, 
Jones went in pursuit. Finding the stranger to 
be only a Swedish vessel, the Ranger turned back 
to regain the Drake, but, in disobedience of Jones's 
orders to keep in touch with him, Simpson had 
borne away to the south, and when the Ranger 
turned back, the Drake was already hull down to 
the southward. 

Owing to this disobedience, Jones was unable 
to chase several large merchant ships that went 
past up the channel, but was obliged to follow the 
Drake, which, despite his signals, continued her 
course to the south. Toward noon the Ranger 
hauled up nearly abreast of the Drake, but then 
the wind shifted, and again the Drake bore away. 
When morning came, Jones gave chase to a dis- 
tant sail, and, at last drawing near, saw that it 
was the Drake. Angered by this crowning act 
of disobedience, he suspended Simpson and put 
Hall in charge of the Drake. Simpson had seen, 
Jones afterward learned, his signals of recall, and 
had simply ignored them. 

It was the 8th of May when the two ships finally 
reached Brest and anchored off the harbor. On 
the day of his arrival he dispatched his famous 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 69 

letter to the Countess of Selkirk, probably the 
most extraordinary epistle ever penned by a naval 
hero. It was a sequel to the Selkirk raid, and 
deserves to be given in full. It ran as follows : 

Ranger, Brest, May 8, 1778. 
The Right Hon. the Countess of Selkirk. 

Madam: It cannot be too much lamented that, in the 
profession of arms, the officer of fine feeHngs, and real 
sensibility, should be under the necessity of winking at any 
action of persons under his command, which his heart 
cannot approve; but the reflection is doubly severe when 
he finds himself obliged, in appearance, to countenance 
such actions by his authority. This hard case was mine, 
when, on the 23d of April last, I landed on St. Mary's Isle. 
Knowing Lord Selkirk's interest with his king, and esteem- 
ing as I do his private character, I wished to make him the 
happy instrument of alleviating the horrors of hopeless 
captivity, when the brave are overpowered and made prison- 
ers of war. It was perhaps fortunate for you, madam, that 
he was from home, for it was my intention to have taken 
him on board the Ranger and detained him until, through 
his means, a general and fair exchange of prisoners, as well 
in Europe, as in America, had been effected. 

When I was informed, by some men whom I met at land- 
ing that his lordship was absent, I walked back to my boat, 
determined to leave the island. By the way, however, 
some officers who were with me could not forbear express- 
ing their discontent, observing that in America no delicacy 
was shown by the English, who took away all sorts of mov- 
able property, setting fire not only to towns and to the 



70 JOHN PAUL JONES \ 

houses of the rich, without distinction, but not even spar- { 

ing the wretched hamlets and milch cows of the poor and ; 

helpless, at the approach of an inclement winter. That i 

party had been with me the same morning at Whitehaven ; ' 

some complaisance, therefore, was their due. I had but '■ 

a moment to think how I might gratify them, and at the \ 

same time do your ladyship the least injury. I charged j 

the ofi&cers to permit none of the seamen to enter the house, ] 

or to hurt anything about it; to treat you, madam, with i 
the utmost respect; to accept of the plate which was 
oJSered, and to come away without making a search or 
demanding anything else. I am induced to believe that 

I was punctually obeyed, since I am informed that the \ 

plate which they brought away is far short of the quantity : 

expressed in the inventory which accompanied it. I have ; 

gratified my men, and when the plate is sold I shall become | 

the purchaser, and will gratify my own feelings by restoring ' 

it to you by such conveyance as you shall please to direct. : 

Had the earl been on board the Ranger the following ; 

evening, he would have seen the awful pomp and dreadful ' 

carnage of a sea engagement, both affording ample subject ; 

for the pencil, as well as melancholy reflection for the con- ] 

templative mind. Humanity starts back from such scenes ] 

of horror, and cannot sufficiently execrate the vile promoters ■ 

of this detestable war. \ 

i 

"For they, 't was they unsheathed the ruthless blade, 

And Heaven shall ask the havoc it has made." ; 

■1 

The British ship of war Drake, mounting twenty guns, ' 

with more than her full complement of officers and men, | 
was our opponent. The ships met, and the advantage 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 71 

was disputed with great fortitude on each side for an hour 
and four minutes, when the gallant commander of the 
Drake fell, and Victory declared m favor of the Ranger. 
The amiable lieutenant lay mortally wounded, besides 
near forty of the inferior officers and crew killed and wounded 
— a melancholy demonstration of the uncertainty of 
human prospects and of the sad reverses of fortune which 
an hour can produce. I buried them in a spacious grave, 
with the honors due to the memory of the brave. 

Though I have drawn my sword in the present generous 
struggle for the right of men, yet I am not in arms as an 
American, nor am I in pursuit of riches. My fortune is 
liberal enough, having no wife and family, and having lived 
long enough to know that riches cannot secure happiness. 
I profess myself a citizen of the world, totally unfettered 
by the Httle mean distinctions of climates or of country, 
which diminish the benevolence of the heart and set bounds 
to philanthropy. Before this war was begun, I had, at 
an early time in life, withdrawn from sea service in favor 
of " calm contemplation and poetic ease." I have sacri- 
ficed not only my favorite schemes of life, but the eager 
affections of the heart, and my prospects of domestic hap- 
piness, and I am ready to sacrifice my life also with cheer- 
fulness, if that forfeiture could restore peace among man- 
kind. 

As the feehngs of your gentle bosom cannot but be con- 
genial with mine, let me entreat you, madam, to use your 
persuasive art with your husband, to endeavor to stop this 
cruel and destructive war, in which Britain can never suc- 
ceed. Heaven can never countenance the barbarous and 
unmanly practice of the Britons in America, which savages 
would blush at, and which, if not discontinued, will soon be 



"jl JOHN PAUL JONES 

retaliated in Britain by a justly enraged people. Should 
you fail in this, and I am persuaded you will attempt it 
(and who can resist the power of such an advocate ?), your 
endeavour to effect a general exchange of prisoners will be 
an act of humanity, which will afford you golden feelings 
on your death-bed. 

I hope this cruel contest will soon be closed ; but, should 
it continue, I wage no war with the fair. I acknowledge 
their force, and bend before it with submission. Let not, 
therefore, the amiable Countess of Selkirk regard me as 
an enemy; I am ambitious of her esteem and friendship, 
and would do anything, consistent with my duty, to merit 
it. The honor of a line from your hand, in answer to this, 
will lay me under a singular obligation, and if I can render 
you any acceptable service in France or elsewhere I hope 
you see into my character so far as to command me, with- 
out the least grain of reserve. I wish to know the exact 
behaviour of my people, as I am determined to punish them 
if they have exceeded their liberty. 

I have the honor to be, with much esteem and profound 
respect, Madam, etc. 

John Paul Jones. 

Certainly an extraordinary letter, but one must 
remember that the times are at fault for a differ- 
ence of tone between our period and that of Paul 
Jones. Indeed, it reads like a chapter from an 
eighteenth-century novel. 

Naturally, the Countess of Selkirk never replied 
to it. It may be well to state here, however, 



FIGHTS IN THE IRISH SEA 73 

that a year later Jones really bought the Selkirk 
silver through the prize court, and paid an extraor- 
dinary price for it. The war between England 
and France long delayed its delivery, though Jones 
made every possible effort to restore it. It was 
not until 1784, six years later, after the return of 
peace, that it was restored to its original owners. 
It is said that it was returned in exactly the same 
state that it was in when taken, even the tea- 
leaves being still in the teapot. Lord Selkirk 
acknowledged its receipt in a letter to Jones, but 
not, however, until August 4, 1789. In his letter 
Lord Selkirk speaks highly of the good conduct 
and civil behavior of the officers and men of the 
Ranger while ashore on St. Mary's Isle. In every 
respect they complied with Jones's orders as to 
their conduct. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Trials of a Victor 

When, on May 8, the Ranger sailed into the 
harbor of Brest with her prize, the fortunes of 
the struggHng colonies had already begun to 
brighten. The secret alHance between France 
and the United States had been signed in February, 
and the American plenipotentiaries had been 
received by the king on March 23. Early in April 
the fleet of Comte d'Estaing sailed from Toulon 
for America. The scheme that Jones had planned 
to capture Lord Howe's fleet was at last adopted, 
though It was to prove unsuccessful. 

Paul Jones's own victory aroused the greatest 
enthusiasm. The prizes the Ranger had captured, 
and the hardihood of her commander in entering 
the home waters of Great Britain with so small a 
vessel, astonished Europe; but the brilliance of 
his victory over the Drake was the crowning wonder 
of France. And terror had been roused in Eng- 

74 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 75 

land — a terror that had slept in peace since the 
far-off days of the Armada. The American prison- 
ers in England at once felt the effect of his victory 
through their better treatment by the authorities. 
In France, Jones was the hero of the hour. 

When the news of his victory reached America, 
it was received with great joy ; but meanwhile 
the hero was in Brest without a cent in his pocket. 
He had brought in two hundred prisoners with 
him, and his first desire was to effect an exchange 
of these for an equal number from among those 
Americans who lay in English prisons. His first 
act on reaching port was to consult with the Comte 
d'Orvilliers as to the best plan to follow in order 
to gain his desire. 

The count advised him to fit out the Drake at 
once, and send his prisoners in her to America 
before any difficulty could be brought to bear upon 
his plan. It had been the custom of American 
commanders in Europe to release their prisoners 
on parole, and wholly without any assurances 
that they would be exchanged, and this poKcy 
had rendered useless all Franklin's efforts to free 
American prisoners in England. They had fol- 
lowed the plan because of lack of funds to care 
for their captives. Now Jones was determined 
to follow other methods. His first letter to the 



76 JOHN PAUL JONES ! 

commissioners in Paris was written immediately : 
after his visit to Comte d'Orvilliers. He wrote : i 

Ranger, Brest, May 9, 1778. \ 

Gentlemen : ] 

I have the honour to acquaint you that I arrived here \ 

last night and brought/ in with me the British ship of war j 
Drake, of 20 guns, with English colours inverted under the 

American stars. I shall soon give you the particulars of '■ 

my cruise; in the meantime you will see some account of ' 

it in a letter of this date from Comte d'Orvilliers to Mon- , 

seigneur de Sartine. I have brought in two hundred prison- ; 

ers, and as Comte d'OrviUiers is apprehensive that as war ; 
with England is not yet declared, they may perhaps be 

given up without exchange, I have resolved to equip the i 

Drake with all possible expedition at Cammeret, and to ' 
send the prisoners in her to America, so fully am I convinced 

of the bad policy of releasing prisoners, especially seamen, i 

without an exchange, that I am determined never to do it \ 

while there remains any alternative. I should not, however, t\ 

have taken a resolution of such importance without con- \ 
suiting with you, had not Comte d'Orvilliers told me that 
the return of a letter from the minister might perhaps put 

it out of my power, and therefore recommended me that ; 

I should lose no time. i 

Notwithstanding this, you will perhaps find it expedient 

to endeavour to effect an exchange of those prisoners in , 

Europe, and should the minister agree to hold them avow- • 

edly as prisoners of war, you will of course inform me ' 
thereof per express, so as to reach me if possible before the 
departure of the Drake. 

I have suspended and confined Lieutenant Simpson for 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 77 

disobedience of orders. I have only time at present to add 
that I have the honour to be, with much esteem and respect, 
Gentlemen, 
Your very obliged, very obedient, very humble servant, 

John Paul Jones. 

Meanwhile, while he waited to hear from the 
commissioners, he was in the direst straits. His 
sailors had not received their wages, had received 
nothing, indeed, beyond the advance-money that 
Jones had paid out of his own pocket. His own 
resources had always been drawn upon for the 
benefit of the service and his crews, but now they 
were exhausted. The stock of provisions was 
gone. In this extremity his own crew and his 
two hundred prisoners were wholly dependent 
upon him ; and he had nothing. 

When he first came to France the commissioners 
had authorized him to draw upon them for neces- 
sary expenses to the extent of twelve thousand 
livres, or about twenty-five hundred dollars ; but 
at the same time they had cautioned him to be as 
sparing as possible of the money. Indeed, he had 
exercised so great a restraint and so strict an 
economy that he had made no draft on the com- 
missioners whatever. Now, returning to Brest, 
with his needs most pressing, he made drafts 
upon the commissioners for double the original 



78 JOHN PAUL JONES 

sum, believing that the lapse of time since the first 
order was given, with the added burden on his 
shoulders, fully justified his demand. The drafts 
were not paid. In this extremity Jones turned 
to the naval authorities at Brest through Comte 
d'Orvilliers, always his warm friend and upholder. 
Through the generosity of the French authorities, 
therefore, his crew and prisoners were cared for 
through this harassing period. 

It is of course true that the commissioners them- 
selves were well-nigh distracted by their lack of 
funds, but this seemed a matter of national honor, 
and should have been given attention. For some 
unaccountable reason that never has been made 
clear, no report from Jones of his cruise had ap- 
peared at Passy, nor had any account of expendi- 
tures been received. The first communication 
that Jones, in turn, received from the commissioners 
after his triumphant return to Brest was from the 
hand of Arthur Lee. In its hostility of tone one 
may readily see that the ungracious spirit of Lee 
was for the moment the supreme voice in the board 
of commissioners. Thus it ran : 

To Captain Paul Jones. 

Sir: 

We have heard of your arrival at Brest with a prize, 
and are surprised that you have not given us an account 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 79 

of that, and of your other proceedings. We desire that 
you will not take any measures relative to the prize and 
the prisoners you may have made, except in assuring them, 
nor incur any considerable expense without our orders. 

Upon receipt of this, you will immediately send us an 
account of what you have done upon your cruise ; of what 
your prizes consist of ; what repairs you want ; and what 
further measures you propose to pursue. Upon all these 
subjects you will wait, our directions. Lieutenant Simp- 
son has stated to us your having put him under arrest for 
disobeying orders. As a court-martial must by order of 
Congress consist of three captains, three lieutenants and 
three captains of marines, and these cannot be had here, 
it is our desire that he may have a passage procured for 
him by the first opportunity to America, allowing him what- 
ever may be necessary for his defense. As the consequences 
of an arrest in foreign countries are thus extremely trouble- 
some, they should be well considered before they are made. 

Four days later, on May 27, Jones forwarded 
a letter to the commissioners. Here is an extract : 

Could I suppose that my letters of the 9th and i6th 
current (the first advising you of my arrival and giving 
reference to the events of my expedition ; the last advising 
you of my draft in favour of Monsieur Bersolle, for twenty- 
four thousand livres, and assigning reasons for the demand) 
had not made due appearance, I would hereafter, as I do 
now, inclose copies. Three posts have already arrived 
here since Comte d'Orvilliers showed me the answer he 
received from the minister to the letter which inclosed mine 
to you. Yet you remain silent. M. Bersolle has this 



8o JOHN PAUL JONES 

moment informed me of the fate of my bills; the more 
extraordinary as I have not yet made use of your letter 
of credit of the loth of January last, whereby I then seemed 
entitled to call for half the amount of my last draft, and 
I did not expect to be thought extravagant when, on the 
i6th current, I doubled that demand. Could this indignity 
be kept secret I should disregard it ; and, though it is already 
public in Brest and in the fleet, as it affects only my private 
credit I will not complain. I cannot, however, be silent 
when I find the pubHc credit involved in the same disgrace. 
I conceive that might have been prevented. To make me 
completely wretched, Monsieur Bersolle has now told me 
that he now stops his hand, not only of the necessary articles 
to refit the ship, but also of the daily provisions. I know 
not where to find to-morrow's dinner for the great number 
of mouths that depend on me for food. Are then the 
Continental ships of war to depend on the sale of their 
prizes for a daily dinner for their men? "Publish it not in 
Gath!" 

My ofiEicers, as well as my men, want clothes, and the 
prizes are precluded of being sold before farther orders 
arrive from the minister. I will ask you, gentlemen, if I 
have deserved all this. Whoever calls himself an American 
ought to be protected here. I am unwilling to think that 
you have intentionally involved me in this dilemma at a 
time when I ought to expect some enjoyment. 

Therefore, I have, as formerly, the honour to be, with due 
esteem and respect, gentlemen, yours, etc., 



Hampered as he was at this period by this 
astonishing disregard of his necessities shown by 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 8i 

the commissioners in Paris, yet he fed his crew 
and his prisoners, cured his wounded, and refitted 
for sea both the Ranger and the Drake by giving 
his personal pledge to the French naval authorities 
to repay all obligations. Some of the burden he 
could have thrown off by turning over his prisoners 
to France, but as France was still a neutral na- 
tion, in name at least, she would have been com- 
pelled to release the prisoners at England's de- 
mand. That would have made impossible the 
exchange of prisoners Jones desired and Franklin 
had fought for since his arrival in France. The 
English Government had long before permitted 
the exchange of captured soldiers, but had refused 
a like privilege to captured sailors. American 
seamen in English prisons had been treated with 
great harshness, and when, in his humane desire 
to relieve the suffering of some of them at least, 
Franklin had written to the British ambassador. 
Lord Stormant, and offered to exchange a hundred 
men captured by Captain Lambert Wilkes in the 
Reprisal for an equal number of American sailors 
imprisoned in England, no reply was made to 
his request. A second letter brought this short 
note: 

"The King's ambassador receives no application from 
rebels, unless they come to implore his Majesty's mercy." 

G 



82 JOHN PAUL JONES 

To this offensive communication Franklin sent , 
the following dignified and deserved rebuke : 

" In answer to a letter which concerns some of the 

material interests of humanity, and of the two nations, ' 

Great Britain and the United States of America, now at ' 

war, we received the inclosed indecent paper, as coming from i 

your lordship, which we return for your lordship's more , 

mature consideration." | 

But the persistence of Franklin finally brought ! 

about a general recognition of the principle of i 

exchange. By holding his prisoners through those ^ 

evil days when he appeared to be deserted even ! 

by Franklin himself, Jones displayed the highest j 

quality of patriotism. i 

In his unfriendly crew, naturally discontented ; 

by the want of even proper food and clothing and | 
impatient at the slow coming of their wages and 
prize-money, Simpson was a constant inciter of 

mutinous feeling, and was finally placed on a | 

French guard-ship. Here he was well treated | 
and allowed the freedom of the deck; but his 

behavior was so outrageous and his language so i 
offensive that Comte d'OrviUiers sent him to 

the port prison. All his expenses ' were of j 
course paid by Jones, who had no capacity for 
resentment. Malcontent as Simpson had been, 

Jones in the end readily agreed to accept his 

i 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 83 

apologies and release him on parole on con- 
dition that he would not again serve in the navy 
until he had been tried by court-martial. He 
even offered to give up to him the command of 
the Ranger in order that he might sail for America 
to stand trial. 

While this business was in process of settlement, 
the commissioners gave Simpson unconditional 
command of the Ranger. The king of France had 
asked the commissioners to permit Jones to serve 
in a naval enterprise that the French Government 
had in hand, and they had consented, so the loss 
of the ship was no concern to Jones ; but he felt 
a great resentment that Simpson should go wholly 
unpunished and even receive the Ranger as a re- 
ward for his disobedience. He felt that the un- 
wise action was not only an injury to the service, 
but an affront to him, though the latter was far 
from the commissioners' thought, as they declared. 
In the end Simpson took the Ranger to America. 
Soon after his return he was relieved of his 
command, and was never after employed in the 
service. Long after, when word came back to 
France that Simpson had spread the report that 
Jones had been dismissed from the Ranger, 
the commissioners sent the following letter to 
Jones : 



§4 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Passy, February lo, 1779. 
Sir: — 

As your separation from the Ranger and the appointment 
of Lieutenant Simpson to the command of her will be liable 
to misinterpretations by persons who are unacquainted 
with the real cause of those facts, we hereby certify that 
your leaving the Ranger was by our consent, at the express 
request of his Excellency Monsieur de Sartine, who informed 
us that he had occasion to employ you in some public 
service; that Lieutenant Simpson was appointed of the 
Ranger with your consent, after having consented to release 
him from an arrest under which you had put him. 

That your leaving the Ranger, in our opinion, ought 
not, and cannot, be an injury to your rank or character in 
the service of the United States ; and that your commission 
in their navy continues in full force. 

We have the honour to be, etc. 

B. Franklin. 
John Adams. 

Meanwhile Jones had been hopefully waiting 
at Brest for more definite word of the service for 
which he was desired by France. He had much 
to contend with besides the tedium of waiting. 
Simpson and his crew were gone, but his prisoners 
were still a great burden. Captain Whipple had 
allowed several to escape and without Jones's 
knowledge had released others on parole, and one 
day Jones learned by chance from a French officer 
that the guard of French soldiers that Comte d'Or- 
villiers had graciously placed over them had been 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 85 

taken away, and all might escape. Jones wrote 
at once to the commissioners, but, without wait- 
ing for a reply, obtained a new guard of marines 
from the French officer of marines in Brest. His 
prize, the Lord Chatham was sold without his 
knowledge, and the Drake, then in Brest, was 
ransacked and plundered of everything movable. 
Of the first enterprise for which he was pro- 
posed as commander Franklin wrote to him in the 
following brief note : 

" The Jersey privateers do us a great deal of mischief by 
interrupting our supplies. It has been mentioned to me 
that your small vessel, commanded by as brave an officer, 
might render great service by following them where greater 
ships dare not venture their bottoms ; or being accompanied 
and supported by some frigates from Brest, at the proper 
distance, might draw them out and then take them. I wish 
you to consider of this, as it comes from high authority." 

This proposal had come before the saiHng of 
the Ranger, and though it was hardly what Jones 
could have wished, he was willing to consent, 
being a man to whom action of any sort was far 
more agreeable than waiting for possible better 
things. But nothing came of it. The possibility 
of his obtaining the Indien again came to the sur- 
face, but that, too, went for naught. Franklin 
wrote to him that it might be well for him to go 



86 JOHN PAUL JONES 

up to Versailles and present his plans in person, 
and Jones went. In consultation with the com- 
missioners and the French ministry he discussed 
the question of the exchange of prisoners and pro- 
posed several plans in which his services might 
be used to advantage. As usual, the plans showed 
his daring and intrepidity. He suggested another 
expedition against Whitehaven, and proposed to 
burn the shipping in the Clyde. He suggested 
that, by cutting off the supplies of coal from New- 
castle, London might be greatly injured. He also 
proposed attacks upon the merchantmen saiHng 
from the West Indies, the Baltic, and Hudson 
Bay. 

M. de Sartine, the minister of marine, gave 
flattering attention to all he said, and Jones went 
away in high hopes. It is probably true that M. 
de Sartine desired to use him to harass England 
before France had declared war upon England, 
but now that war was actually begun, his aid had 
become less material. Even if a command could 
have been found for him, the reluctance of French 
officers to serve under a foreigner might have 
meant failure. How serious this disinclination 
might be was afterward shown when Jones ob- 
tained the ship that was to become world-famous, 
the Bon Homme Richard^ and sailed in company 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 87 

with French vessels commanded by Frenchmen. 
It was a point that had to be seriously considered. 

But inaction was making Jones desperate. 
With his proud nature he could not return to 
America and humbly ask for a command after 
having sent, by the Ranger, a letter to Congress 
that stated that no command need be reserved 
for him since the king of France had asked that 
he might enter his service. Now that war was 
declared and the king had no further need of his 
services, Jones overwhelmed with a flood of letters 
every one who might by any possibihty aid him. 
Franklin in his way did all that was possible. He 
obtained the minister's order to Comte d'Orvil- 
liers to take Jones out with his fleet when it put 
to sea to meet the English fleet under the command 
of Admiral Keppel, and Jones was eager for the 
chance, feeling how great an advantage it would 
be to acquire a knowledge of the art of handling 
a great fleet. To the great regret of Admiral 
d'OrviUiers, who had always been friendly to 
Jones and seems to have held his high abiUty in 
the greatest esteem, the order was too late, for 
the fleet had sailed before it arrived. It was said 
that the order was intentionally delayed by the 
jealousy of men in the French naval service. 

By the nth of September Jones wrote to a 



88 JOHN PAUL JONES 

friend that if the next post brought him nothing 
definite he would send to M. de Sartine ''a round 
unvarnished tale." Two days later he wrote it. 
Here it is : 

Brest, September 13, 1778. j 
Honoured Sir: i 

When his Excellency Doctor Franklin informed me that | 
you had condescended to think me worthy of your notice, 
I took such pleasure in reflecting on the happy alHance ; 
between France and America that I was really flattered, 
and entertained the most grateful sense of the honour which 1 
you proposed for me, as well as the favour which the King 1 
proposed for America, by putting so fine a ship as the ' 
Indien under my command, and under its flag, with un- I 
limited orders. 

In obedience to your desire, I came to Versailles, and 
was taught to believe that my intended ship was in deep \ 
water, and ready for sea ; but when the Prince [de Nassau] 
returned I received from him a different account; I was 
told that the Indien could not be got afloat within a shorter 
period than three months at the approaching equinox. ; 

To employ this interval usefully, I first offered to go i 
from Brest with Comte d'Orvilliers as a volunteer, which 
you thought fit to reject. I had then the satisfaction to ; 
find that you had approved in general of a variety of hints \ 
for private enterprises which I had drawn up for your' con- 
sideration, and I was flattered with assurances from Mon- ; 
sieurs de Chaumont and Baudouin that three of the finest \ 
frigates in France, with two tenders and a number of troops, , 
would be immediately put under my command; and that ! 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 89 

I should have unlimited orders, and be at free liberty to 
pursue such of my own projects as I thought proper. But 
this plan fell to nothing in the moment when I was taught 
to think that nothing was wanting but the King's signature. 

Another much inferior armament from L'Orient was pro- 
posed to be put under my command, which was by no means 
equal to the services that were expected from it ; for speed 
and force, though both requisite, were both wanting. Hap- 
pily for me, this also failed, and I was thereby saved from 
a dreadful prospect of ruin and dishonour. 

I had so entire a reliance that you would desire nothing 
of me inconsistent with my honour and rank, that the moment 
you required me to come down here, in order to proceed 
round St. Malo, though I had received no written orders, 
and neither knew your intention respecting my destina- 
tion or command, I obeyed with such haste, that although 
my curiosity led me to look at the armament at L'Orient, 
yet I was but three days from Passy till I reached Brest. 
Here, too, I drew a blank; but when I saw the Lively it 
was no disappointment, as that ship, both in sailing and 
equipment, is far inferior to the Ranger. 

My only disappointment here was my being precluded 
from embarking in pursuit of marine knowledge with Comte 
d'Orvilliers, who did not sail till seven days after my return. 
He is my friend, and expressed his wishes for my company ; 
I accompanied him out of the road when the fleet sailed, 
and he always lamented that neither himself nor any per- 
son in authority in Brest had received from you any order 
that mentioned my name. I am astonished therefore to be 
informed that you attribute my not being in the fleet to 
my stay at L'Orient. 

I am not a mere adventurer of fortune. Stimulated by 



90 JOHN PAUL JONES 

principles of reason and philanthropy, I laid aside my en- 
joyments in private life, and embarked under the flag of 
liberty when it was first displayed. In that line my desire 
of fame is infinite, and I must not now so far forget my own 
honour, and what I owe to my friends and America, as to 
remain inactive. 

My rank knows no superior in the American marine. 
I have long since been appointed to command an expedition 
with five of its ships, and I can receive orders from no junior 
or inferior officer whatever. 

I have been here in the most tormenting suspense for 
more than a month since my return ; and, agreeable to your 
desire, as mentioned to me by Monsieur Chaumont, a 
lieutenant has been appointed, and is with me, who speaks 
the French as well as the English. Circular letters have 
been written, and sent the 8th of last month from the 
EngHsh admiralty, because they expected me to pay another 
visit with four ships. Therefore I trust that, if the Iiidien 
is not to be got out, you will not, at the approaching season, 
substitute a force that is not at least equal both in strength 
and saiHng to any of the enemy's cruising ships. 

I do not wish to interfere with the harmony of the French 
marine ; but, if I am still thought worthy of your attention, 
I shall hope for a separate command, with liberal orders. 
If, on the contrary, you should now have no further occa- 
sion for my services, the only favor I can ask is that you 
will bestow on me the Alert, with a few seamen, and permit 
me to return, and carry with me your good opinion in that 
small vessel, before the winter, to America. 

I am happy to hear that the frigates from St. Malo 
have been successful near Shetland. Had Count d'Estaing 
arrived in the Delaware a few days sooner, he must have 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 91 

made a most glorious and easy conquest. Many other 
successful projects may be adopted from the hints which I 
had the honour to draw up ; and if I can still furnish, or 
execute, any of those already furnished so as to distress 
and humble the common enemy it will afford me the truest 
satisfaction. 

I am ambitious to merit the honour of your friendship 
and favour ; and being fully persuaded that I now address a 
noble-minded man who will not be offended with the honest 
freedom which has always marked my correspondence, I 
am with great esteem and profound respect, 

Honoured Sir, 
Yours, &c. 

John Paul Jones. 
Monseigneur de Sartine. 

The French fleet returned to Brest, bringing in 
the Fox, an English frigate of twenty-four guns, 
and Jones, knowing that she was fast, at once asked 
Franklin to obtain her for him, with the Alert 
as a tender. He also wrote to the Due de Chartres 
to use his influence to the same end. Dr. Bancroft, 
meanwhile, had persuaded M. de Chaumont to 
see M. de Sartine in the matter, and he now wrote 
to Jones that the minister had consented to let 
him have the Fox, but this letter was soon con- 
tradicted by another that stated that the minister 
of marine had broken his promise, and had given 
the Fox to a French Keutenant. Men often fail 
in patience toward those whom they have injured. 



92 JOHN PAUL JONES 

and M. de Sartine had now reached this point. 
He wrote to Comte d'Orvilliers that it was his 
intention to send the persistent American home in 
a bonne voiture — easy coach. Plainly, he wished 
to be rid of him. Aroused, Jones now gave his 
opinion of M. de Sartine 's treatment of him to the 
Due de la Rochefoucauld, who met Jones in Brest 
and proved a sympathetic hearer. To the duke 
he now wrote : 

Brest, 9th Octo. 1778. 
Honoured Sir: 

The 2 1 St ult. I wrote a particular account of my situation 
here to his royal Highness the Due de Chartres. But 
that brave prince has himself, I understand, met with un- 
merited trouble and of course has not yet had leisure to 
remove my suspense. 

The minister's behaviour towards me has been and is 
really astonishing. 

At his request (for I sought not the connection) I gave 
up absolute certainties and far more flattering prospects 
than any of those which he proposed. What inducement 
could I have for this but gratitude to France for having 
first recognized our independence ? 

And having given my word to stay for some time in 
Europe, I have been, and I am, unwilling to take it back, 
especially after having commimicated the circumstances 
to Congress. 

The minister, to my infinite mortification, after possess- 
ing himself of my schemes and ideas, has treated me like 
a child five times successively, by leading me on from great 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 93 

to Kttle and from little to less. Does such conduct do honour 
either to his head or to his heart ? 

He has not to this moment offered me the least apology 
for any of these five deceptions, nor has he, I beheve, 
assigned any good reason to that venerable and great char- 
acter, his Excellency Doctor Franklin, whom he has made 
the instrument to entrap me in this cruel state of inaction 
and suspense. 

The minister has lately written a letter to Comte d'Orvil- 
liers proposing to send me home in "une bonne voiture." 
This is absolutely adding insult to injury. And it is the 
proposition of a man whose veracity I have not experienced 
in former cases. 

I could in the summer with the Ranger, joined by the 
two other American frigates, have given the enemy sufl&cient 
foundation for their fears in Britain as well as in Ireland. 
And I could since have been assisting Count d'Estaing or 
acting separately with an American squadron. Instead 
of this I am chained down to a shameful inactivity here 
after having written to Congress to reserve no command 
for me in America. 

Convinced as I am that your noble and generous breast 
will feel for my unmerited treatment I must beseech you 
to interest yourself with the Due de Chartres, that the 
king may be made acquainted with my situation. 

I have been taught to believe that I have been detained 
in France with his Majesty's knowledge and approbation, 
and I am sure he is too good a prince to detain me for my 
hurt or dishonour. M. de Sartine may think as he pleases, 
but Congress will not thank him for having thus treated 
an officer who has always been honoured with their favour 
and friendship. 



94 JOHN PAUL JONES 

I entertained some hopes of his honourable intentions till 
he gave the command of the Fox to a lieutenant after my 
friends had asked for me only that ship with the Alert, 
cutter. He was the asker at the beginning and ought to be 
so now. He has to my certain knowledge ships unbe- 
stowed. And he is bound in honour to give me the Indien 
as he proposed at the first, or an equivalent command imme- 
diately. I should very much esteem the honour of a line 
from your hand and shall always be happy in opportunities 
to merit your favour and friendship, being with profound 
esteem and respect, 

Honoured Sir, 
Yours &c. 

John Paul Jones. 
Monseig. le Due de Rochefoucauld. 

Jones's friends at Passy shared his indignation 
over the bad faith of the minister of marine. On 
the loth of October Dr. Bancroft wrote that he 
had made a strong appeal to M. Baudouine to 
make M. Sartine come to the point. He wrote, 
thereupon, that Sartine was ashamed and felt 
that Jones had suffered an injustice. He said that 
he had been prevented from acting by the opposi- 
tion of French naval officers. Now, Sartine de- 
clared, he would give Jones a ship if he had to 
purchase one. FrankHn was deeply stirred ; he de- 
clared through Bancroft that if no move was made 
in a few days he would show his resentment, and 
advised Jones to have patience for that short time. 



THE TRIALS OF A VICTOR 95 

M. de Chaumont also wrote. He asserted 
that M. de Sartine had sworn that Jones should 
have a ship ; but as if he rather doubted the oath 
of the minister, he now offered Jones the command 
of a privateer that he himself owned; but Jones 
declined the offer. As a servant of the United 
States, he declared, he would not on his own author- 
ity or inclination serve either himself or his best 
friend in any private enterprise unless the honor 
and interest of America was the first object. Fully 
aroused now, he declared his intention of appealing 
from the minister to the king. 

He did write to the king, and an excellent letter 
it was ; he also wrote to the Duchesse de Chartres, 
asking her to give his letter to the king in person, 
but neither the king nor the duchess ever saw their 
letters. Jones had sent the letters to Franklin 
first, as was always his rule in matters of so great 
importance ; but before they arrived, M. de Sar- 
tine had sent to the commissioners a formal prom- 
ise to give Jones a ship. With his usual caution 
and great good sense, Franklin now advised Jones 
to withhold the letters since Sartine had formally 
promised him a ship. Any expression of his doubt 
that Sartine would keep his promise Franklin 
thought would be unwise. And Jones consented. 
The letters, therefore, remained with FrankHn. 



96 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Even then it was long before he received his 
ship. After six weeks of waiting he received an 
order from M. de Chaumont to visit certain vessels 
in Brest, with a view to their fitness, and Jones, 
doing so, reported them unsuited for his purpose. 
"I wish to have no connection with any ships which 
do not sail fast," he wrote, "as I intend to go in 
harm's way." From Brest to different ports he 
traveled, looking at various ships. At L'Orient, 
midway between Nantes and Brest, he inspected 
a large, old-fashioned merchant vessel that had 
been fourteen years in the India trade, but was 
now dismantled and much out of repair. She was 
called the Due de Duras. The next day, which 
was the 7th of December, he wrote to M. de Chau- 
mont that he beheved she might answer. To his 
report no reply came for two weeks, when the 
owner, having received other offers for the vessel, 
gave Jones the refusal of her for ten days. He 
wrote again, emphasizing the need of haste. 
A favorable letter arrived, but before the Duras 
could be purchased, Jones received a letter from 
M. de Chaumont involving further delay. Jones, 
naturally, became impatient. He set out for Paris 
to finish the business once and for all. 



CHAPTER VII 
In the Bay of Biscay 

In the journal that in 1786 he wrote for Louis 
XVI, in which he related the story of his naval 
career, Jones stated that his decision to go per- 
sonally to Paris at that time came about through 
his reading by chance in FrankHn's *' Maxims of 
Poor Richard" this saying, *'lf you would have 
your business done, go yourself; if not, send." 
In memory of the chance reading and of the author, 
whom he loved ''as a son does a father," as he 
once said, he thereupon resolved that if he received 
the ship, he would change her name from the Due 
de Duras to the Bon Homme Richard. 

His journey was eminently successful. M. de 
Sartine received him amiably and promised that 
he should have the ship. He would see to it that 
she was purchased at once. For the agent of the 
king in the matter, M. de Sartine appointed M. de 
Chaumont. With considerable influence at court, 
M. de Chaumont had been the devoted friend and 
counselor of the American commissioners and of 
H 97 



98 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Paul Jones himself. He was to purchase the 
Duras and would see to the refitting of the vessel 
and of the others of the squadron. It was in a 
house on his estate at Passy that Franklin made 
his headquarters through his long residence in 
France, and for this house M. de Chaumont would 
receive no rental. In many other ways he was a 
generous friend to America and her representatives. 
M. de Sartine continued most friendly. He gave 
Jones sole command of the fleet, and not only pro- 
posed to give him in addition a large ship of war, the 
Marechal de Broglie, of sixty-four guns, with three 
or four smaller frigates and two or three cutters, but 
suggested that he take with him five hundred men 
from Walsh's Irish regiments to aid in the land 
attacks. But since he was to recruit no French 
seamen, Jones was obliged to refuse the Broglie in 
the absence of men to fill out her necessary crew. 

On the 4th of February M. de Sartine sent him 
the king's formal presentation of the ship, with the 
announcement that he was at liberty to change her 
name, as he wished. Jones's reply to Sartine 
shows the marked change of feeling that the pros- 
pects of action had brought to him. The past was 
quickly forgotten; indeed, it was true of him 
always that to hold resentment was impossible. 
Now he wrote: 




John Paul Jones 

The statue by Charles Henry Niehaus. It may be 
seen in the City of Washington, at the entrance to 
Potomac Park. 



IN THE BAY OF BISCAY 99 

Passy, Feb. 6th, 1779. 

M. DE Sartine, Minister of Marine, Versailles. 

My Lord : 

I have the honour to receive your Excellency's letter dated 
the ist, by the hands of M. Gamier. I take the earUest 
opportunity to offer you my sincere and gratified thanks 
for so singular and honourable a mark of your confidence and 
approbation. 

It shall be my duty to represent in the strongest terms 
to Congress, the generous and voluntary resolution which 
their great ally, the protector of the rights of human nature, 
and the best of kings, has taken to promote the honour of 
their flag, and I beseech you to assure his Majesty that my 
heart is impressed with the deepest sense of the obligation 
which I owe his condescending favor and good opinion and 
which it shall be my highest ambition to merit, by rendering 
every service in my power to the common cause ; I cannot 
ensure success, but I will endeavor to deserve it. . . . 

It has always been my custom to treat my people and 
prisoners with hospitality and kindness, and you may be 
assured that I shall ever take pleasure in promoting the 
happiness of every person under my command. 

Your having permitted me to alter the name of the ship 
has given me a pleasing opportunity of pa}dng a well-merited 
compliment to a great and good man to whom I am under 
obhgations, and who honours me with his friendship. 

I am, in the fullness and grateful affection of my heart, 
and with perfect esteem and respect. 

My Lord, 

Yours, &c. 

John Paul Jones. 



lOO JOHN PAUL JONES 

M. de Sartine had introduced Jones to Count 
Garnier, whom Jones was to consult in all his plans 
for his expedition, and soon after Jones reached 
L'Orient, where the vessels of his squadron had 
assembled, he wrote to the count, asking him to 
beg Franklin to allow the American frigate Alli- 
ance to be added to his fleet. The Alliance was 
one of the fastest ships of her time, and had just 
brought Lafayette to France, under the command 
of Pierre Landais, an ex-officer of the French navy. 
As a compliment to Lafayette, and with a natural 
wish to please an important ally, the American 
naval committee had appointed Landais to the 
command of the frigate, but in total ignorance of 
the fact that he had been dismissed from the French 
service for disobedience and incompetence. Frank- 
lin now granted Jones's request to add the Alliance 
to his fleet. Both were to Hve to regret bitterly 
that it was done. 

In his letter to Count Garnier, Jones had said 
that he was having difficulty in finding the proper 
cannon for the Bon Homme Richard, and feared that 
he must search for them himself ; and having sent 
Lieutenant Amiel and other officers that he had 
found at Nantes to recruit sailors for his ship, he 
started on his search. He in time discovered 
a foundry in which they might be made, and on 



IN THE BAY OF BISCAY lOi 

his way back was met at Nantes by a message 
summoning him to Paris for an important confer- 
ence. On his arrival he learned that Lafayette, on 
hearing of his plan to attack the coast of England, 
had expressed the wish to join him in the expedi- 
tion. His proposal was cordially received by 
Franklin and the French minister, and Jones wel- 
comed the addition with pleasure. In the plans 
Lafayette was to have the command of seven 
hundred picked men for land attacks, and a larger 
naval force was given to Jones. 

Shortly after Jones's return to L'Orient to hasten 
the preparations for sea, he received this letter 
from Franklin : 

27th of April. 
My dear Sir : 

I have at the request of M. de Sartine postponed the 
sending of the Alliance to America, and have ordered her to 
proceed immediately from Nantes to L'Orient, where she 
is to be furnished with her complement of men, join your 
little squadron, and act under your command. 

The Marquis de La Fayette will be with you soon. It 
has been observed that joint expeditions of land and sea 
forces often miscarry through jealousies and misunder- 
standings between the officers of the different corps. This 
must happen where there are little minds, actuated more by 
personal views or profit or honour to themselves, than by 
the warm and sincere desire of good to their country. 
Knowing you both, as I do, and your just manner of think- 



I02 JOHN PAUL JONES 

ing on these occasions, I am confident nothing of the kind 
can happen between you, and that it is unnecessary for me 
to recommend to either of you, that condescension, mutual 
good will, and harmony, which contribute so much of success 
in such undertakings. I look upon this expedition as an 
introduction only to greater trusts and more extensive com- 
mands, and as a kind of trial of both your abilities, and of 
your fitness in temper and disposition for acting in concert 
with others. I flatter myself, therefore, that nothing will 
happen that may give impressions to the disadvantage of 
either of you, when greater affairs shall come under con- 
sideration. 

As this is understood to be an American expedition, 
under the Congress commissioners and colors, the marquis, 
who is a major general in that service, has of course the 
step in point of rank, and he must have the command of the 
land forces, which are committed by the King to his care, 
but the command of the ships will be entirely in you, in 
which I am persuaded that whatever authority his rank 
might in strictness give him, he will not have the least desire 
to interfere with you. There is honour enough to be got for 
both of you, if the expedition is conducted with a prudent 
unanimity. The circumstance is indeed a Httle unusual; 
for there is not only a junction of land and sea forces, but 
there is also a junction of Frenchmen and Americans, which 
increases the difficulty of maintaining a good understanding ; 
a cool prudent conduct in the chiefs is therefore the more 
necessary, and I trust neither of you will in that respect 
be deficient. With my best wishes for your success, 
health and honour, I remain, dear Sir, your affectionate and 

most obedient servant, 

B. Franklin. 



IN THE BAY OF BISCAY 103 

The plans of this joint expedition had not been 
told to M. de Chaumont, and Jones was displeased 
when he learned that M. de Chaumont had in 
some manner learned of them. Lafayette seem- 
ingly shared his feeling, for he wrote that he con- 
sidered it unwise to place any of the military part 
of the expedition on, the Alliance, as he feared Cap- 
tain Landais would have trouble with his of&cers. 
He had come from America with Landais and had 
learned something of his quality for mischief. 

The matter of getting recruits for the small 
squadron was beset with difficulties . The re- 
cruits from Nantes were unfit and were returned. 
From among some American prisoners in L'Orient 
Jones had secured thirty able seamen, but to make 
up his full crew he had to depend on a number of 
untrained French peasants gathered from the 
surrounding country. In the belief that La- 
fayette's soldiers would be able to keep them in 
order, he took a number of English prisoners from 
Brest and St. Malo. It was the best he could do, 
but all in all, it was, as Jones declared, ^'as bad a 
crew as was ever embarked on any vessel." The 
cannon ordered for the Bon Homme Richard had 
not arrived, so he equipped her with an old battery, 
placing twenty-eight nine- and twelve-pounders 
on the main-deck, and six old eighteen-pounders 



104 JOHN PAUL JONES 

on the gun-deck. This top-heavy arrangement 
would cause the ship to roll dangerously in heavy 
weather, but as Jones said he expected to find 
smooth water in harbors where he proposed to go, 
the matter seemed well settled. With the cannon 
on the quarter-deck and the forecastle-deck, her 
armament was raised to forty-two guns. 

M. de Chaumont had purchased a merchantman 
named the Pallas, and fitted her out with thirty- 
two twelve-pounders. The Vengeance, a brig, 
mounted twelve three-pounders. The Alliance, 
of thirty-six guns, and the CerJ, a fast cutter be- 
longing to the royal marine, completed the squad- 
ron. The Alliance and the Cerf, each in her own 
way, were the only members that were actually fit 
for real service. 

The soldiers had all embarked, and Jones was 
waiting for Lafayette, when a letter from him 
announced that, owing to the fact that the secret 
character of the expedition had been disclosed to 
M. de Chaumont, the minister had ordered La- 
fayette to return to his regiment and refused to 
let his troops sail. The original aim of the expedi- 
tion had been the laying of Liverpool under con- 
tribution, together with other plans that Jones 
had secretly perfected with Count Gamier. Now 
Count Garnier, as adviser of the expedition on 



IN THE BAY OF BISCAY 105 

behalf of the French minister of marine, was su- 
perseded by M. de Chaumont. As the direct 
representative of the count, the latter assumed 
not only full charge of the equipping of the fleet, 
but took upon himself the direction of the whole 
squadron. 

It was a task for which he was ill fitted, and with 
the rashness of ignorance he at once proceeded to 
prove his lack of fitness by issuing orders that de- 
stroyed the value of the fleet as a unit. He sent 
to Jones written orders that he must not demand 
any services from the other ships of the squadron 
that conflicted with the designs of their respec- 
tive commanders. Cotteneau of the Pallas, Ricot 
of the Vengeance, Varage of the Cerf, and Landais 
of the Alliance, who had been placed on their 
vessels by the orders of M. de Chaumont, therefore 
felt at liberty to follow their own ideas without 
reference to Jones or his plans. Furthermore, M. 
de Chaumont, by emphasizing the idea that he, 
as the agent of the king, was the absolute manager 
of the expedition, increased the impression in the 
fleet that it was wholly a French expedition and the 
ostensible commander of it was a foreigner and 
therefore open to suspicion. 

All possibility of unity and harmonious action 
was now lost; yet, despite all this, Jones made 



lo6 JOHN PAUL JONES 

every attempt to keep his self-control and establish 
pleasant relations with his captains. Owing to 
difficulties with Landais, two of the best officers of 
the Alliance deserted before the squadron put to sea, 
and in the hope of keeping harmony on the best 
ship in the fleet, Jones allowed the matter to pass. 

The change in the plan had really come about 
through the expectation of Spain's joining in the 
war against Great Britain, and the forming of a new 
great invasion of England by the combined fleets of 
France and Spain. The idea came to nothing, but 
it destroyed the hopes of Jones's little fleet to 
sail in a similar attempt to harass England. In the 
new invasion Lafayette was to have command of 
the troops used in landing. ** I dare say," he wrote 
to Jones, ''that you will be very sorry to hear that 
our plans have been quite altered. I can only tell 
you how sorry I feel not to be a witness of your 
success, abilities, and glory." 

Jones was to be sorry for more reasons than one, 
for with the withdrawal of the soldiers of Lafayette, 
Jones's abiUty to control his nondescript crews, 
with the English prisoners as their chief menace, 
seemed doubtful indeed. But he now had no 
choice, and trusting that all might go well, he 
awaited Franklin's orders. They came in due 
season. Franklin wrote that M. de Sartine wished 



IN THE BAY OF BISCAY 107 

him, before directing his course toward England, 
to make a preliminary cruise to the south, con- 
voying some merchant vessels from L'Orient to 
Bordeaux and afterward freeing the Bay of Biscay 
of the ships of the enemy. It was not what Jones 
had planned, and was far from his liking ; but it 
was action of a sort, and with the cheerfulness and 
alacrity that he always displayed when actually 
employed, on the 19th of June he set out. 

On the night of the very next day his troubles 
with Landais began. The Alliance came into 
colKsion with the Bon Homme Richard through 
Landais's not yielding the right of way to the 
Bon Homme Richard, to whom it belonged. Both 
vessels were injured. Landais displayed the most 
abject cowardice at the moment of action. With 
no attempt to assist in extricating the vessels from 
their dangerous position, and giving no orders, he 
ran below, and in terror or anger, it can never be 
known which, proceeded to load his pistols. Jones 
was below at the time, but hurrying to the deck, by 
prompt action saved the ships from more serious 
disaster. With justice to Landais it should be 
said that the officer of the watch on the Bon 
Homme Richard could not have been wholly free 
from blame, for he was afterward court-martialed 
for his lack of efficiency in the collision. 



Io8 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Patching up their injuries as best they could with 
what resources were at hand, the vessels continued 
on to Bordeaux. In engaging later in the second 
part of the task assigned to him on this voyage, to 
drive all English vessels from the bay, Jones, to his 
disappointment, found that the Bon Homme Rich- 
ard was hopelessly slow. Trouble with the Eng- 
lish prisoners also broke out, for they formed a 
plot to seize his ship; but this was uncovered in 
time to avert disaster, and the ringleaders were 
put in irons. One thing the voyage disclosed, and 
that was his capacity to command. Despite a 
serious accident and a formidable plot to take the 
ship, he at once set about increasing the efficiency 
of his officers. Where weaker men would have 
despaired and given up all effort, he doubled his 
activity. No matter how inferior his crew, how 
inefficient his officers, or how ill fitted his ships, — 
and it was his misfortune never to have fit ships, — 
time and time again he made the weak strong, the 
inefficient capable, and brought a miracle of vic- 
tory to his cause. An entry in the log-book of 
the Bon Homme Richard throws light on his 
method. It reads : 

*'3oth June. At half past 7 p.m. saw two sails 
bearing down upon us, one with a flag at each mast- 
head. Hove about and stood from them to get in 



IN THE BAY OF BISCAY 109 

readiness for action, then hove mizzen- topsail to 
the mast, down all stay-sails and up mizzen-sail. 
Then they hove about and stood from us. Imme- 
diately we tacked ship and stood after them. 

''After which they wore ship and stood for us. 
Captain Jones [It must be remembered here that 
the first officer, not the captain, "wrote up" the 
log-book], gentleman-like, called all his officers, 
and consulted them whether they were willing to 
see them. They all said. Yes. Made sail after 
them ; but they being better sailers than we, got 
from us. At I A.M. tacked ship." 

A written appreciation of his officers and crew on 
this occasion shows similar evidence of his method 
of gaining the best possible service from them. 
Here it is : 

''It is with singular satisfaction that the captain 
returns his thanks to the officers and men for the 
noble ardor and martial spirit which they mani- 
fested last night when in chase of two ships pf 
war, which appeared to be enemies, whom we 
expected every moment to engage. 

"But who saved themselves by their superior 
swiftness of sailing and by a most shameful flight. 

"The ship is now bound into port for a few days, 
after which we shall depart better fitted ; and it 
shall be the captain's endeavour to search after a 



no JOHN PAUL JONES 

fortune equal to the merit of every man, of every 

free American and brave volunteer whom he has 

the honour to command. 

Given on board the American 

ship of war, the Bon Homme Richard 

off Port Louis, the 30th 

of June, 1779." 

It is interesting to know that among those he 
commended were even the English prisoners who 
had been in the plot to seize the ship. Seeing his 
ability, and inspired by his example in action, as 
his seamen always seemed to be inspired, they 
fought so bravely and well that Jones specially 
singled them out for praise in the account of the 
cruise that he drew up for Sartine and Franklin 
on his arrival at Croix, near L'Orient, the next 
day. Of such stuff are great commanders made. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Delays and Discouragements 

The Bon Homme Richard's lack of speed had 
been disappointing to Jones, and his disappointment 
was now further increased when he learned that 
her timbers were too old and rotten to permit him 
to make certain changes in her. On his arrival 
in Croix he had been met by an order from Franklin 
to proceed at once on a new cruise about Great 
Britain in search of British ships. Further orders, 
he was told, would meet him in the Texel, in Hol- 
land, where he was to go at the end of the ex- 
pedition, about the 15th of August. 

Jones reported his disappointment to Franklin, 
and again asked for the Indien. He also suggested 
a change in the proposed cruise, and Franklin 
replied that that could not now be changed, but, 
as an encouragement to Jones, added that he 
thought the Texel had been chosen as the point 
where the cruise was to end in order that Jones 
might then take over the Indien. 



112 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Jones had been long in getting a ship, and it 
was with no good grace that he received this 
message from Frankhn. His ship was the slowest 
of all his Httle squadron, and most of his guns had 
been condemned by the French Government; his 
desire of ''going into harm's way," as he had de- 
clared, was not likely to prove fortunate with the 
Bon Homme Richard as the only instrument to 
meet it. Yet he proceeded in all haste to repair his 
ships, only to suffer from new delays; for M. de 
Chaumont now sent the Pallas and the Vengeance 
out on a cruise for privateers. Any accident to 
them in the interval, he felt, might delay the whole 
squadron in its saiKng. Another annoyance fol- 
lowed, for M. de Chaumont, learning of the destina- 
tion of the cruise, had told the secret in L'Orient. 
''This is a strange infatuation," Jones wrote to 
Franklin, "and it is much to be lamented that one 
of the best hearts in the world should be connected 
with a mistaken head, whose errors may effect the 
ruin and dishonor of the man whom he esteems 
and loves." Certainly it was most unwise to 
disclose plans the success of which might depend 
on their not being known to the enemy. 

There were other matters to take his thoughts 
from the task of repairing his ship, for court- 
martials were held to try the two ringleaders of 



DELAYS AND DISCOURAGEMENTS 113 

the plot to seize the Bon Homme Richard. They 
were condemned to death; but to the reHef of 
Jones, who was always on the side of merciful 
treatment, the sentence was changed to severe 
flogging with the cat-o'-nine tails. The Heutenant 
of the Richard, who had been in charge of the watch 
at the time of the collision with the Alliance ^ 
was also court-martialed and dismissed from the 
service. 

M. de Sartine, through these mishaps, had formed 
a low opinion of the squadron and particularly of 
the Bon Homme Richard, which added to Jones's 
anxiety. Doubtlessly Sartine felt that as Jones 
had reported favorably on the ship, he alone should 
be blamed, and it may easily be imagined that he 
looked upon Jones as a nuisance. Jones must have 
felt this, and the numerous delays must have 
galled his spirit. Only by some decisive action 
could he prove his worth. 

But the delay was an advantage in the end. 
Thinking it well to have a force on the ship that 
could control the dangerous element in the crew, 
Sartine sent a body of marines under the charge 
of two officers recommended by Lafayette. A 
hundred and thirty-seven Portuguese sailors who 
had lately come to L' Orient on a French ship were 
added to the crew, and when Jones learned that 
I 



114 JOHN PAUL JONES 

some exchanged American prisoners had reached 
Nantes, he sent his master, Cutting Lunt, to that 
port to get recruits among them. Many of these 
men joined the ship, and Jones was thus enabled 
to weed out many of the disorderly members of his 
crew. These new men came to be the real back- 
bone of his force. Many had suffered the horrors 
of EngHsh prisons, and therefore were eager for 
revenge. The most notable addition to this group 
was young Richard Dale, only twenty- three at 
the time. He had been captured on the Lexington 
and had been confined in the mill prison at Ports- 
mouth for two years. He had now come to France 
after a daring and romantic escape from the prison, 
in which he had been aided by an unknown woman. 
To the day of his death Dale refused to reveal 
either her name or the circumstances of their ac- 
quaintance. Jones, recognizing in Dale both char- 
acter and efficiency, gave him a commission as 
first officer of the Bon Homme Richard. It was 
one of the few happy chances that life brought to 
Paul Jones. Next to Jones himself, it was Dale 
who brought success to the Bon Homme Richard, 
an aid, indeed, that Jones never undervalued. 
Between the two men sprang up a warm and last- 
ing friendship. 

The full number needed for the ship was thus 



DELAYS AND DISCOURAGEMENTS 115 

completed, and now amounted to three hundred 
and eighty men. Among the officers of all ranks 
there were eight Americans, two French, and six 
British, which included the commodore and the 
two surgeon's mates. Dale was first lieutenant, 
Henry Lunt second. Cutting Lunt third ; Lieu- 
tenants Stack, McCarty, and O'Kelly, of Walsh's 
Irish Brigade, were officers of the marines under 
Lieutenant-Colonel Chamillard and Colonel Wei- 
bert. Thomas Potter and Nathaniel Fanning, 
with about seventy other Americans, were enrolled 
as midshipmen and seamen, and the remainder 
were Portuguese, Malays, and Swedes, with nearly 
a hundred of the English prisoners. Though Jones 
had been loath to retain these Englishmen, it had 
been necessary in order to make up the needed 
number. 

Jones did not leave the whole task of recruiting 
to his officers, and spared neither time nor money 
to persuade any likely sailor that he met to join 
him. 

Such persuasion was probably necessary in 
L'Orient, for few Americans were there, of course, 
and good seamen of neutral countries would fight 
shy of the service. So beyond the French marines, 
who were trained soldiers, and the Americans, 
who might be supposed to be heart and soul in 



ii6 JOHN PAUL JONES 

the cause, the crew was a motley collection of 
adventurers and prisoners who would always be 
a menace. Only a man Uke Jones could have 
welded such a strange horde into a disciplined body 
of fighters. Yet under his rule they became trained 
sailors and as ready a crew as ever fought a ship. 
It takes genius for organization to accompHsh a 
task like that. 

Six weeks had now been passed in port, and the 
fleet was once more ready for sea. Franklin had 
lengthened the time at its disposal, and now set 
the end of September as the time when it should 
return. Then M. de Chaumont appeared. With 
him he brought his famous "Concordat," the most 
extraordinary paper ever written for dispelling 
any actual hope of success in an expedition. The 
orders that Chaumont had given when Jones first 
sailed with the fleet, that he must require no serv- 
ice from the ships of his fleet that would conflict 
with the orders of their respective commanders, 
were now fixed and confirmed in the Concordat by 
the French minister himself. The captains of the 
vessels were required to yield obedience to the 
head of the fleet only so far as it suited their 
pleasure. Other articles provided that all prizes 
should be sent to agents chosen by M. de Chau- 
mont because he had furnished the funds for 



DELAYS AND DISCOURAGEMENTS 117 

fitting out the expedition. Every member of the 
fleet, therefore, would have to apply to M. de 
Chaumont for his share of the prize-money, pro- 
vided, of course, there should be any. 

This wonderful document came to Jones's hand 
when he was on the point of sailing, and as M. de 
Chaumont declared that he represented M. de 
Sartine, the minister of marine, and was em- 
powered to remove Jones from the command of 
the fleet if he refused to sign, Jones therefore 
signed the Concordat. "Under any other cir- 
cumstances," he wrote to the king, "I should have 
rejected this proposal with disdain. I saw all 
the dangers that I was incurring, but as I had 
announced in America that I had remained in 
Europe at the request of the French court, I de- 
cided to risk them all." 

Surely no such strangely planned expedition had 
ever before sailed the seas with the expectation of 
winning battles. But it did win. The genius of 
one man was not to be thwarted. Possibly the 
absurdity of his present situation did more to 
strengthen Jones's character than any other one 
cause. Naturally impatient, he was now found 
to be patient. He had shown courage before, 
audacity, and an indomitable persistence. Now, 
having no authority, he patiently strove to re- 



Ii8 JOHN PAUL JONES 

place authority by personal power. He held 
repeated consultations, and by kindness, tact, and 
wisdom endeavored to obtain the largest measure of 
concerted action that was possible. Two volunteer 
privateers had now joined his fleet, and with the 
seven ships he was at last ready to sail. 

Three days before sailing he wrote to M. de 
Sartine, explaining that the trouble on his ship had 
been caused solely by the unguarded English 
prisoners, and gently reminded him that his re- 
moval of marines from the ship at the last moment 
before leaving L'Orient might, therefore, receive 
the blame for all later trouble. Now that Sartine 
had furnished him with a new body of marines, he 
assured the minister that he had no further fear of 
trouble. He promised to send him direct reports of 
his progress. Two days later he wrote to Franklin : 

The little squadron appeared to be unanimous, and I be- 
lieve if that good understanding should continue, that they 
would be able to perform essential services. ... I shall 
certainly sail at daybreak and I hope shortly to find oppor- 
tunity to testify my gratitude to our great and good ally for 
the honour he had conferred on the American flag and on 
myself, and I look foward with flattering expectation and an 
ardent desire to merit your friendship and that of America. 

He wrote to Lafayette an affectionate letter in 
which he declared his eager wish at some future 



DELAYS AND DISCOURAGEMENTS 119 

time to make an expedition in his company. The 
next day he sailed. 

It was the 14th of August, 1779, when, with 
cannon booming and flags waving everywhere, the 
little squadron dropped down the roads. One 
after the other the sails on the broad yards of the 
old Indiaman fell and were then sheeted home as 
Paul Jones stood on the high, old-fashioned poop- 
deck and surveyed the scene with a happy heart. 
He was at sea again, and going "into harm's 
way." His ship was old, poorly equipped, and 
slow ; his crew was a mixed lot, few of whom had 
any real heart in the cause that sent him eagerly 
forth ; he was the commander of a squadron, yet 
lacked the first and last essential of a squadron — 
supreme authority. Measured by any ordinary 
standard of human responsibiHty, he might well 
have sailed that day with a heavy heart. But 
he was happy. And well he might be. He was 
sailing forth to his last great adventure, but it 
was to be one of the supreme adventures of his- 
tory, a revelation of the spirit of unconquerable 
man, who, when conquered, refuses to accept de- 
feat, and in refusing wins. 



CHAPTER IX 

"Going into Harm's Way" 

The squadron had sailed at daybreak on the 14th 
of August, and four days later, while off the en- 
trance to the EngHsh Channel, it captured a large 
Dutch vessel called the Verwagting, which only a 
few days before had been taken by an English 
privateer, and was therefore a lawful prize for the 
squadron. The two privateers that had joined the 
squadron at the last moment, the Monsieur and the 
Grandville, had desired to sign the Concordat and 
join the fleet on equal terms with the other ships, 
but M. de Chaumont had refused to consent. 
"This arrogant conduct," Jones afterward wrote, 
"caused general belief among the Americans, 
particularly on board of the Alliance, that the 
squadron belonged neither to the king nor to Con- 
gress, but to the individuals who had supplied 
the armament of the vessels, and who were partners 
with M. de Chaumont in the expected profits of 
the expedition." In short, the expedition appeared 
120 



"GOING INTO HARM^S WAY" 121 

to be merely an unusually large privateering enter- 
prise. 

The privateers, therefore, had been bound to 
the others only by their voluntary agreement, and 
now, at the very first chance of securing a prize, 
broke this agreement to be governed by Jones's 
orders. The captain of the Monsieur, which had 
sent aboard the captured ship the boarding party, 
took for his own benefit several valuable articles 
from the Verwagting, and then manned her with a 
crew from his own vessel and attempted to send 
her into Ostend under his own orders. Before 
she could get well away, however, Jones over- 
hauled her, and manning her with his own men, 
sent her to L'Orient with a letter to M. de Chau- 
mont. For twenty-four hours the captain of the 
Monsieur sulked in the rear, and then under cover 
of darkness left the squadron and never returned. 

On the 2ist, off the southwest coast of Ireland, 
the brig Mayflower, freighted with butter, was 
captured and sent back to France. Two days 
later, off Cape Clear, the southwest point of Ire- 
land, they sighted another vessel. What happened, 
Jones wrote in his official record : 

''That afternoon being calm, I sent some armed 
boats to take a brigantine that appeared in the 
new quarter. Soon after, in the evening, it be- 



122 JOHN PAUL JONES 

came necessary to have a boat ahead of the ships to 
tow, as the helm <;:ould not prevent her from laying 
across the tide of flood, which would have driven 
us into a deep and dangerous bay situated between 
the rocks on the south called the Shallocks, and 
on the north called the Blaskets. The ship's boat 
being absent, I sent my own barge ahead to tow 
the ship. The boats took the brigantine [she was 
called the Fortune] which was bound with a cargo 
of oil blubber and staves from New Foundland for 
Bristol. This vessel I ordered to proceed imme- 
diately for Nantes or St. Malo. Soon after sunset 
the villains who towed the ship cut the rope and 
decamped with my barge. Sundry shots were 
fired to bring them to, without effect. In the 
meantime the master of the Bon Homme Richard, 
without orders, manned one of the ship's boats, 
and with four soldiers pursued the barge in order 
to stop the deserters. The evening was clear and 
serene, but the zeal of that officer, Mr. Cutting 
Lunt, induced him to pursue too far, and a fog 
which came soon afterward prevented the boats 
from rejoining the ship, although I caused signal 
guns to be frequently fired. The fog and calm 
continued the next day till towards evening. In 
the afternoon Captain Landais came on board the 
Bon Homme Richard and behaved towards me with 



"GOING INTO HARM'S WAY" 123 

great disrespect, affirming in the most indelicate 
manner and language that I had lost my boat and 
people through my imprudence in sending boats 
to take a prize. He persisted in his reproaches, 
though he was assured by Messrs. de Weibert and 
Chamillard that the barge was towing the ship 
at the top of the elopement, and that she had not 
been sent in pursuit of the prize. He was affronted 
because I would not, on the day before, suffer him 
to chase without my orders, and to approach the 
dangerous shore I have already mentioned, where 
he v/as an entire stranger, and when there was not 
sufficient wind to govern a ship. He told me he was 
the only American in the squadron and was deter- 
mined to follow his own opinion in chasing, when 
and where he thought proper, and in every other 
matter that concerned the service, and that if we 
continued in that situation three days longer the 
squadron would be taken." 

This was the first of Landais's many outbreaks. 
Colonel Weibert has left an account of it that bears 
witness to Landais's unmanageable character and 
Jones's self-control under the attack. One can 
well understand Jones's feelings at the time, but 
the Concordat had bound him hand and foot. 
Long afterward Landais's strange actions developed 
into the insanity which properly explained his con- 



124 JOHN PAUL JONES 

duct. It would have been well for Paul Jones if the 
disease of mind had shown itself before the two met. 
Thus early in the cruise appeared the second 
result of the pernicious Concordat. The third 
revealed itself immediately after, when Jones was 
actually compelled to consult with his captains 
and obtain the consent of his commander before 
he could send the Cerf, the fast-sailing cutter of 
the fleet, to coast along the shore in search of the 
two missing boats. Lunt, who had evidently over- 
taken the deserters, saw the cutter approach, and 
began to pull toward her; but the Cerf hoisted 
EngHsh colors, and Lunt, believing he was in error 
as to her identity, retreated to the shore, and, 
being captured, was recommitted to an English 
prison. He had only recently been freed from one ; 
from the second he was released by death. By this 
misadventure the Bon Homme Richard lost an officer 
and twenty-two men. To add to this misfortune, 
the Cerf, losing sight of the fleet as night came on, 
sailed back to France, and while Jones continued 
to wait on the coast in the hope that she would 
yet appear with the missing boats, the other priva- 
teer in the squadron, the Grandville, having made a 
capture, took advantage of the absence of authority 
in the fleet and her distance from the guns of the 
Bon Homme Richard to sail off with the prize. 



"GOING INTO HARM'S WAY" 125 

Thus only four ships of the squadron remained, 
and Jones, unwilling to lose any more time, de- 
cided to cruise off the west coast of Ireland, near 
the harbor of Limerick, to intercept a fleet of 
Indiamen that were about due. These vessels 
bore valuable cargoes and could have been cap- 
tured with ease, but Landais refused to accompany 
him, and under cover of the darkness abandoned 
the fleet. So the plan of waiting oft* Limerick was 
given up, and Jones took his course round Ireland, 
taking several prizes on the way. A gale had 
sprung up on August 26, and the tiller of the 
Pallas giving way in the night, morning found 
the Bon Homme Richard and the Vengeance alone. 
The gale having dropped, in a leisurely way the 
two ships continued their course to the north. On 
August 31, while Jones was chasing the Union, a 
vessel loaded with ship supplies, the Alliance bore 
in sight, with a valuable prize, the West Indian 
Betsey, in her wake. The next day the Bon Homme 
Richard had come up with the Union and brought 
her to ; but before her boats were called away 
and the Union manned, Landais sent a message to 
Jones, asking if the Alliance should send a prize- 
crew aboard. If so, he added, he would allow no 
man from the Richard to board her. With in- 
credible patience Jones permitted the Alliance to 



126 JOHN PAUL JONES 

place a prize-crew on the Union while he himself 
received the prisoners on his own ship. It is 
of interest to know that Landais, ignoring Jones's 
explicit orders, sent the Betsey and the Union to 
Bergen, where, on the demand of the British min- 
ister, they were immediately released by the Gov- 
ernment and sent to England. Their value was 
given at forty thousand pounds sterling. 

Jones had now taken many prizes, but he was 
anxious to do more, and on the evening of the 4th 
of September he summoned the captains of the 
Alliance J Vengeance, and Pallas to the flagship. 
Twice since joining the fleet Landais had either 
refused to obey orders or had wholly disregarded 
signals, and now again he refused obedience. To 
Mr. Mease, Jones's purser, who now went aboard 
the Alliance, Landais abused his commander, 
declaring that he had the lowest opinion of Jones, 
and would meet him on shore, where one or the 
other would forfeit his life. To Captain Cottineau 
and Colonel Chamillard, who now went to reason 
with him, he had the same answer. Indeed, he 
was now wholly insane, and the only wonder is 
that his associates did not recognize the fact and 
take measures to restrain him. Fortunately for 
the commodore, whose patience had reached its 
limit, the Alliance immediately after again aban- 



"GOING INTO HARM'S WAY" 127 

doned the squadron and did not rejoin it until 
the 23d of September. His return was of course 
a greater harm, as events were to prove. 

Another storm came up on September 5, and it 
blew hard for a week or more. The fleet had been 
working to the south, and on the 14th arrived near 
the east coast of Scotland off the Firth of Forth. 
Here they captured a ship and a brigantine loaded 
with coal, and learning from the prisoners that the 
naval force in the harbor of Leith consisted of 
one twenty-one-gun ship and three or four cutters, 
his old idea of laying the British towns under con- 
tribution again recurred to Jones, with Leith and 
Edinburgh as his objective points. His purpose, 
he wrote, "was to teach the enemy humanity by 
some exemplary stroke of retaliation," to cause 
the release of Americans still imprisoned in Eng- 
land, and to make a diversion in the north that 
would weaken the British naval force in the south 
against the expected coming of the great fleets of 
France and Spain. Indeed, the great fleet under 
the command of Comte d'OrvilHers, which France 
with high hopes had plainly been preparing for 
years, had anchored in Brest on the same day that 
Jones appeared off Leith. It had been driven back 
by contrary winds when near the English coast. 
Now, in company with the Spanish fleet, it lay in 



128 JOHN PAUL JONES 

the harbor of Brest in a pitiable condition. Ex- 
posed to untold hardships, half starved, and 
scourged by sickness, the fleet had been betrayed 
by the minister of marine, M. de Sartine, through 
the carelessness or ignorance with which he had 
equipped it. 

Having agreed with the captain of one of the 
coasting-vessels he had taken to restore his craft 
to him if he would pilot the Richard into the 
Firth of Forth, Jones sailed back to meet the 
Pallas and the Vengeance, which had lagged in the 
rear. Summoning their captains aboard the flag- 
ship, he made known his plan, but found them with 
small heart for the venture. Although finally 
obtaining their consent, it required the whole 
night to obtain it, and then only by appeaHng to 
their cupidity. The lure of the plunder to be 
gained won them over. But action at sea does 
not stand in with long debates, and the favorable 
wind had shifted when the conference was at last 
finished. Jones did not abandon his purpose, 
however, and worked back and forth ofl the mouth 
of the harbor while he waited for a favoring wind. 
On the afternoon of the 17 th the squadron could 
be plainly seen from Edinburgh Castle, and the 
report of his presence caused the wildest alarm. 
Arms were distributed, and an attempt to erect 



"GOING INTO HARM'S WAY" 129 

batteries at Leith was made. On the fleet every 
necessary preparation for the descent had been 
completed, and Jones had even busied himself in 
moments of leisure with the task of drawing up 
articles of capitulation, which he intended the 
magistrates of Leith to sign, when suddenly the 
wind, which was prone to fail him in most of his 
attacks on his native land, broke in a severe squall, 
obliging him to run out of the Forth. So great 
were the waves that one of his prizes foundered. 

With the country now thoroughly aroused, 
there was no longer any hope of success in that 
quarter, and Jones's ready mind turned to a new 
project, a Hke attempt a little farther south, on 
Newcastle-on-Tyne. But his associate captains 
had already had too long a stay in the territory 
of the enemy, and longed to sail for the Texel; 
they declared that they would sail alone if Jones 
tarried longer. He thought of carrying out his 
project with a single ship, but at last gave up the 
thought. ''Nothing prevented me," he afterward 
wrote, "from pursuing my design but the reproach 
that would have been cast upon my character as 
a man of prudence had the enterprise miscarried." 

The word "prudence" was new in the vocab- 
ulary of Paul Jones. That much the divided 
authority of the expedition had brought him — 



130 JOHN PAUL JONES 

prudence. Now deserted by most of his ships 
and at odds with the captains who remained, he 
followed the line of least resistance, and laid his 
course for Flamborough Head, a Kttle farther south, 
the last appointed rendezvous of the squadron before 
crossing the North Sea and entering the Texel. 
It lay close to the usual track of ships on the coast, 
and was therefore an excellent cruising-ground. 

Taking several prizes on the way south, they 
came by the 21st of September to Flamborough 
Head, where they cruised for two days. Early on 
the morning of the 23d, Jones chased two ships 
that daybreak showed to be the Pallas and the 
long-absent Alliance. During the morning Jones 
had pursued a brigantine close under the land south 
of the head, until, about noon, sighting a large 
ship to the north, he sent Henry Lunt with a party 
of fifteen to cut out the brigantine while he him- 
self sailed out to meet the new-comer. An hour 
later a great fleet of forty-one sail came into view 
around the headland, and Jones knew at once 
that the long-expected Baltic fleet had arrived. 
In the van of the fleet came two large ships of 
war, the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. 
Calling back Lunt and setting a signal for a gene- 
ral chase, Jones laid his course toward the two 
war-ships. . 



CHAPTER X 

The Great Fight 

To Jones's signal, as usual, Landais paid no heed, 
but ran off toward the Pallas, which had tacked 
to follow the Bon Homme Richard, with the Ven- 
geance coming up far in the rear, where she re- 
mained throughout the fight, and therefore no 
longer to be considered. Meanwhile, in the hear- 
ing of both crews, Landais had called out to Cap- 
tain Cottineau of the Pallas that if the oncoming 
fleet was convoyed by a ship of more than forty 
guns there was nothing left them but flight. 
With the two ships uncertainly beating about in 
the rear, Jones pluckily proceeded alone. 

Early that morning Captain Pearson of the Sera- 
pis had been informed that a hostile fleet had 
been seen in the neighborhood, and signaHng to 
the great fleet that he convoyed to continue its 
course out to sea, he ran to the windward, to place 
himself between the enemy and his convoy. Dis- 
regarding his signal, however, his convoy had kept 

131 



132 JOHN PAUL JONES 

on its course in the hope of passing Flamborough 
Head before the enemy appeared from the north ; 
but when Jones's squadron came in sight to the 
south of the head, in a wild flight of terror the 
convoy ran for the port of Scarborough. The 
Serapis and the Bon Homme Richard had been 
saiKng along the opposite sides of the headland in 
such manner that, without changing their courses, 
they would meet at a point about six miles from 
shore. At half-past five, the wind being light, 
the Countess of Scarborough had come up with 
her consort, and half an hour later the two ships 
went about in order to keep their position between 
the convoy and the enemy. Jones also tacked at 
the same moment, so that he gained the weather- 
gauge and a position between the shore and the 
English ships. The wind was light and blowing 
off the land, and it was seven o'clock before the 
slow Richard came within hailing distance of the 
Serapis. The Pallas and the Vengeance were near 
the Countess of Scarborough and away to leeward ; 
the Alliance, to windward, was out of gun-shot. 

Alone with the Serapis, the Bon Homme Richard 
appeared at a disadvantage. Old, slow, and with 
the lighter construction of a merchantman, she 
carried six eighteen-pounders on the gun-deck, 
fourteen twelve- and fourteen-pounders on the 



THE GREAT FIGHT 133 

main-deck, with eight six-pounders on the upper- 
decks, and after the first broadside had only those 
of the main-deck and three on the quarter-deck 
with which to fight. At the best she could throw 
only a hundred and seventy-five pounds of shot 

against the Ser apises three hundred pounds. On j 

her high poop-deck Jones stationed Colonel Cha- \ 

millard with a body of French marines ; on her 1 

fortunately broad tops he had stationed a large i 
force of riflemen, who were under the charge of 
Lieutenant Stack of the Irish regiment. His 

original complement of three hundred and eighty ■ 

men had been lowered to about three hundred I 
by those sent out to man various prizes and by 

the loss of the second and third lieutenants, the I 

two Lunts, and their companies, ' 

The Serapis was a brand-new ship of about 1 

eight hundred tons burden. Built for war, she i 

was of course more heavily constructed than the : 

Richard. A double-banked frigate, she carried ] 

guns on one uncovered and two covered decks. | 

On the lower, or main, deck she mounted twenty j 

eigh teen-pounders ; on the gun-deck, twenty nine- | 

pounders, and on the spar-deck, ten six-pounders, I 

a total of fifty guns, or twenty-five in a broadside, ; 

throwing three hundred pounds of shot. She '\ 

had a picked crew of three hundred and twenty j 



134 JOHN PAUL JONES 

English to contend with the Richard's motley 
collection of about the same number. Captain 
Pearson was a man of well-known ability and 
courage. 

Slowly the two ships came nearer in the fading 
light of a beautiful autumn day. The moon had 
risen, and was casting its pale Hght over the slightly 
ruffled sea. In the west the light in the Flambor- 
ough Head lighthouse glov/ed yellow against the 
darkening sky. On the hills and on the decks 
of the great fleet anchored under the guns of Scar- 
borough Castle thousands of spectators were 
gathered. Ahead of the Bon Homme Richard lay 
the Serapis, with courses triced up and topsails 
aback and light streaming forth from her opened 
ports. Then in that deep, waiting hush a figure 
sprang to the rail of the British ship, and a voice 
called over the water : 

"What ship is that?" 

Jones had kept his ship end-on to the Serapis, 
and now with a quick motion to the quartermaster 
below him, he gave the signal to put the helm 
hard to starboard. As the Richard slowly turned 
to port, bringing her broadside to view, Jones 
parried for another moment of time. Jumping 
up to the taffrail and supporting himself with the 
backstay, he shouted : 



THE GREAT FIGHT 135 

"I can't hear you." 

On the Englishman the lighted ports of the Bon 
Homme Richard could now be seen, and the muzzled 
guns projecting from them. Quick and near came 
their hail : 

"What ship is that? Answer at once or I shall 
fire." 

The Richard had now swung broadside to, but 
little ahead of the Englishman, and Jones gave a 
quick command. A Hne of fire shot out into the 
dusk from one of the twelve-pounders, and the 
next instant the whole broadside of the Bon 
Homme Richard thundered. At the same instant 
the broadside of the Serapis had answered. Then 
another light flashed out on the night ; two of the 
old eighteen-pounders on the Richard's gun-deck 
exploded at the first fire, kilHng nearly every man 
in the station, shattering the main-deck above the 
guns, and blowing a hole through the hull. A 
smaller man would have recognized defeat then; 
Jones ordered the ports to be closed and the sur- 
vivors to be recalled, and dismissed the disaster 
from his mind. 

It was about quarter past seven, and enveloped 
in smoke, side by side, the ships sailed on. The 
Serapis now uncovered a lower battery, showing 
the men of his enemy a new superiority. The 



136 JOHN PAUL JONES 

Richard had run a trifle ahead of the enemy, and 
Jones swung in toward her, hoping to cross her 
bows and rake her, but with her superior speed the 
Serapis now forged ahead, and the broadsides 
continued. Jones, knowing that he was dealing 
with an opponent of greatly superior force, now 
backed his topsails and allowed the Serapis to 
run ahead, meaning to run down upon her and 
board her ; but with some of her braces shot away, 
the slow Richard struck the port quarter of the 
Serapis, and though it was an unfavorable point 
for boarding, Jones mustered his boarders on the 
forecastle, with himself in the lead ; but the 
EngHshmen appeared in such force on the deck 
of the Serapis that Jones gave over the attempt 
as the grappKng-irons thrown out lost their hold 
and fell overboard. 

For a moment the two ships hung together, 
and then the Serapis forged ahead, with the Bon 
Homme Richard in Hne with her and just astern. 
Captain Pearson now backed his topsails to come 
abreast again. On every count the Bon Homme 
Richard was now hopelessly beaten. Nearly every 
marine on the poop-deck had been killed ; the 
entire battery of twenty-eight twelve and nine- 
pounders on the main-deck, with a picked company 
of Americans and marines under Dale and Weibert, 



THE GREAT FIGHT 137 

had been silenced; the hole in the side made by 
the exploding guns on the lower deck had been so 
greatly enlarged by the terrific bombardment 
of the eighteen-pounders of the Serapis that in a 
wide space abaft the mainmast the main-deck lay 
exposed. Only one hope remained — the small 
hope of getting a slow and almost hopelessly dam- 
aged ship in a position for boarding. 

At this moment of great tension, while Pearson 
was dropping back to get his broadside again in 
play on the enemy, the Richard, by passing close 
and thus taking the wind out of the sails of the 
Serapis, slowly forged ahead. Then suddenly a 
flaw of wind filled the sails of the Bon Homme 
Richard, the helm was put hard up, and the Richard 
shot ahead, bringing the Serapis^ s jib-boom between 
her mizzen-shrouds. 

''Well done, my brave lads! We have got her 
now," Jones called. Instantly the Serapis let 
go her anchor, thinking that the Bon Homme 
Richard's headway would carry her free; but 
Jones himself had already made her fast. He 
ordered Samuel Stacy, the master, to bring a 
hawser, and as the sailing master began to over- 
haul the hawser, lying in a tangle on the deck, 
he broke into an oath of impatience. ''Don't 
swear," Jones quietly said. "In another moment 



138 JOHN PAUL JONES 

we may be in eternity ; but let us do our duty." 
Then he made the jib-boom of the Serapis fast to 
his own mizzenmast. The two ships were thus 
bound together. The wind in the after-sails of 
the Serapis forced her around, breaking off her 
bowsprit, but an anchor on her bow caught in the 
chains of the Richard's mizzen-rigging, and held 
her fast. Thus they lay with their starboard 
sides touching, but heading in opposite directions. 
The captain of the Serapis now ordered his gun- 
ners to the starboard batteries, which had not 
yet been brought into action. The ships were so 
close that the port-Hds could not be opened; so 
they were blown off with the first discharge of 
the guns; Dale afterward said that spongers 
and rammers had to be thrust through the ports 
of the enemy in order to serve the guns. Purser 
Mease, who had commanded the guns on the 
quarter-deck, being dangerously wounded, Jones 
took his place, bringing over from the port side 
an extra gun, so that three were now available on 
the deck. The mainmast of the Serapis, in the 
bright Kght, stood out clearly to view, and against 
it Jones himself directed the fire of one of the guns. 
Below decks matters had gone badly on his ship, 
but the fire from his tops had been well sustained 
throughout the action, and now the soldiers and 



THE GREAT FIGHT 139 

marines on the deck, being constantly reenforced 
by men sent from below as their guns were put 
out of commission, by degrees cleared the deck of 
the Serapis. The yards were interlaced, too, and 
the American top-men crossed over and took 
possession of the main- top. On his own ship, 
Pearson, on the quarter-deck, stood virtually 
alone. Hearing at this moment that both Jones 
and Dale had been killed, the master-at-arms, 
beheving that he was now in command, rushed 
up from below, with a carpenter and a gunner, to 
haul the flag down. Happily, the flag and its 
staff had been shot away, and the three called for 
quarter. 

''What scoundrels are these?" Jones cried, and 
threw both his pistols at the head of the gunner, 
felling him as he fled. The master-at-arms and 
the carpenter also fled to their posts. But Pearson, 
on the Serapis^ had heard the cry for quarter, and 
shouted to Jones, asking if he had struck. 

"/ have not yet begun to fight,'''' flashed back the 
immortal answer. Any other man might have 
accepted defeat. Driven from the deck of their 
ship by the accurate musket-fire of Dale and the 
marines and the top-men, the whole force of the 
enemy was now below, pouring a deadly fire from 
their eighteen-pounders into the hull of the Richard. 



• 



I40 JOHN PAUL JONES 

But the main deck of the ship was now abandoned, 
and the sides so riddled that the shot passed 
through and fell into the sea. If their gunners 
had had the presence of mind to lower the muzzles 
of their guns and blown her bottom out, the tale 
might have been different. But they did not, 
and Jones yet had his chance, and knew it. At 
this point, when alone on his deck, Pearson had 
called a party from below in an attempt to board 
the Richard, but a superior force under Jones 
himself beat it off. 

Now for a time there came a lull in the fighting, 
for both ships were afire, and all hands on both 
ships were needed to put out the flames. The 
Serapis was blazing in at least twelve places, and 
the Bon Homme Richard^ old and thoroughly 
soaked with tar, blazed on despite all the water 
that was cast on the flames. The sails and rigging 
of both ships now caught, and even the main- 
mast of the Richard began to burn; the tub of 
water placed in the top was ineffective to quench 
it. Fanning relates how the top-men finally 
extinguished it with their coats and jackets. 

With the fires at last subdued, the fight again 
broke out. The motley crew of the Richard^ 
inspired by the indomitable will of their captain 
and by the thirst for blood that comes to all 



THE GREAT FIGHT 141 

in the face of carnage, fired through the smoke 
into the faces of the enemy, and with pikes and 
lances and muskets struck at them through the 
port-holes. And the enemy struck back. Hat- 
less and stained with powder, Jones stood at his 
guns, urging his crew on with his carrying voice. 

For an hour the fight had gone on when near 
the Richard a shape appeared out of the night. 
It was the Alliance. 

"1 thought now that the battle was at an end," 
Jones said, ''but to my utter surprise he discharged 
a broadside full into the Bon Homme Richard. 
We called to him ... to stop firing into the Bon 
Homme Richard. There was no possibility of 
his mistaking the enemy's ship for the Bon Homme 
Richard, there being the most essential difference 
in their appearance and construction; besides 
it was full moonlight, and the sides of the Bon 
Homme Richard being all black, and the sides of 
the prize was yellow, yet for the greater security 
I showed the signal of our reconnaissance by putting 
out three lanterns, one at the head, another at 
the stern, and the third in the middle, in a 
horizontal line. Every tongue cried out that 
he was firing into the wrong ship, but nothing 
availed." 

A few moments later the Alliance ^ passing to 



142 JOHN PAUL JONES 

leeward across the bow of the Richard, disappeared 
in the night. Then another danger threatened. 
Released by the treacherous master-at-arms, the 
hundreds of maddened English prisoners now 
rushed up from below, crying that the ship was 
sinking. It was the most critical moment in 
the engagement, and the man was there to meet 
it. With audacity and presence of mind he or- 
dered them to the pumps and told them that the 
Serapis also was sinking, and the lives of all de- 
pended upon them. Dale was there to second 
him and to beat them back. It seems incredi- 
ble, but they went to the pumps, and there 
remained, with only Dale to guard them, while 
they kept the ship afloat long enough to help 
the man-tamer Jones defeat their own coun- 
trymen. Only one of the prisoners got away, 
the captain of the Union. He slipped across to 
the Serapis and told Pearson of the desperate 
condition of the Richard. Encouraged now, Pear- 
son ordered all hands below for what he supposed 
would be the last broadside needed, and remained 
alone on the deck. But it was not to be as the 
cap^tain of the Serapis thought. An American 
sailor, creeping in on the main-yard of the Serapis, 
threw a hand-grenade down the main-hatchway. 
It fell on a line of cartridges that had been care- 



THE GREAT FIGHT 143 

lessly laid in the exposed position by the powder- 
boys. Some of the cartridges were broken, and 
the scattered powder, taking fire, blazed through 
the line all the way aft. The explosion was terrific. 
*'More than twenty men were blown to pieces," 
Dale wrote, ^'and many stood with only the collars 
of their shirts upon their bodies." 

It was the turning-point in this most dramatic 
of sea-fights. Panic had seized the Englishmen, 
and it was increased by the second appearance of 
the Alliance. She sailed close under the stern 
of the Richard, and poured a scattering fire of 
grape-shot into both ships, then passed around 
the port side of the Richard, still firing. She killed 
several men on the ship, including Mr. Caswell, 
whose station was on the forecastle. Caswell 
was a midshipman. 

Possibly the second appearance of the Alliance 
hastened Pearson's decision to surrender, for the 
Alliance could now destroy him. As a matter of 
truth, the fire from the Alliance had done more 
injury to the Richard, and many of the Americans 
wished to yield; but Jones, as he said, ''would 
not, however, give up the point." He was still 
directing the fire of his gun toward the mainmast 
of the Serapis, which had at last begun to shake. 
His practiced ear told him that the enemy's fire 



144 JOHN PAUL JONES 

had slackened, and he cheered his men on to new 
efforts. Their fire increased. 

The crews had done all that was in the power of 
men; the issue now lay with the two captains. 
Which had the greater endurance? Captain 
Pearson settled the matter, answered the ques- 
tion. He had beaten his enemy, but his enemy 
would not perceive it. In the face of such deter- 
mination, his own firmness faltered. To the flag- 
staff drooping over the stern of his ship he had 
nailed his flag. He now walked aft to the taffrail 
and tore it loose from the staff. 

''They have struck their flag!" cried Jones, 
who had seen the act. 'Xease firing!" It was 
then half -past ten. 

The shouts that the EngHshman had struck 
ran through both ships, but the gunners on the 
Serapis, on the lower deck, still continued to fire. 
Dale, meanwhile, with the permission of Jones, 
went aboard the Serapis, followed by Midshipman 
Mayrant and a party of men. Mayrant was 
wounded by a pike, the wielder not having been 
informed of the surrender. Dale relates what 
happened : 

''I found Captain Pearson standing on the lee- 
ward side of the quarter-deck, and addressing 
myself to him said, ' Sir, I have orders to send you 



THE GREAT FIGHT 145 

on board the ship alongside.' The first lieutenant 
of the Serapis, coming up at this moment, inquired 
of Captain Pearson whether the ship alongside 
had struck to him. To which I replied, 'No 
sir, the contrary ; she has struck to us.' The 
lieutenant, renewing the inquiry, 'Have you 
struck, sir?' was answered, 'Yes, I have.' The 
lieutenant replied, 'I have nothing more to say,' 
and was about to return below when I informed 
him he must accompany Captain Pearson on 
board the ship alongside. He said, 'If you will 
permit me to go below I will silence the firing of 
the lower-deck guns.' This request was refused, 
and with Captain Pearson he was passed over to 
the deck of the Bon Homme Richard. Orders 
being sent below to cease firing, the engagement 
terminated after a most obstinate contest of three 
hours and a half." 



CHAPTER XI 

The Little Man in Blue 

On the quarter-deck of the Bon Homme Richard 
the English officers found themselves in the pres- 
ence of a Httle man clothed in a blue uniform 
that had been torn in the action. He wore no 
hat ; his dark face was grimy with powder. Blood 
from a slight wound on his forehead had dried 
on his cheek, but his dark eyes still flashed with 
his indomitable spirit. As Captain Pearson, after 
a few preliminary words, surrendered his sword 
to the man of battle, he said haughtily : 

"It is painful to me that I must resign this to 
a man who has fought with a halter around his 
neck." 

Whatever may be said of this speech, all Ameri- 
cans may be proud of Paul Jones's generous reply : 

"Sir, you have fought like a hero, and I make 
no doubt that your sovereign will reward you in 
a most ample manner," he said. 

There was no time to lose. The battle was 



THE LITTLE MAN IN BLUE 147 

over, but both ships were in desperate condition. 
The dead and wounded lay everywhere. The 
smoldering timbers of the Richard had again 
burst out in flames. With only half his crew Jones 
had to man both ships, force the English prisoners 
back into the hold, and secure the crew of the 
Serapis. He placed Dale in command of that 
ship, with a generous number of his own men, and 
the lashings that bound the two vessels were 
loosed. As the ships drifted apart, the mainmast 
of the Serapis, which only the interlocking yards 
of the Bon Homme Richard had upheld, went over- 
board, carrying the mizzen- topmast with it. The 
Richard at once began to draw past the Serapis, 
and Dale gave orders to fill the head-sails and, 
wearing ship, come up in the wake of the Richard. 
But the ship did not respond to the helm, and 
jumping from the binnacle, where he had been 
sitting, to investigate the reason, Dale fell to the 
deck. A splinter from one of the guns had badly 
wounded his leg, but until that moment he had 
been unaware of the fact The sailing-master 
of the Serapis now came aft to inform him that ' 
he judged by Dale's orders that he was unaware 
that the Serapis had anchored at the beginning 
of the engagement. Henry Lunt now made 
his appearance aboard the prize, and Dale sent 



148 JOHN PAUL JONES 

him forward to cut the cable, and then turned over 
the command to him while he was carried aboard 
the Richard to have his wound dressed. Lunt 
had come aboard, reporting that he had not thought 
it prudent to come while the battle was on. Prob- 
ably he lived to regret such prudence. 

After a careful examination of his ship, Paul 
Jones was convinced that she could not be saved. 
Her rudder had been shot away, and the rotten 
timbers in many places were shown to be merely 
pulp. The Pallas had sent a part of her crew 
aboard, and they worked faithfully at the pumps, 
but it was a vain task. The 25th was spent in 
transferring the wounded to the Serapis. Early 
in the morning of the next day the removal of 
the prisoners was begun. Realizing that they 
far outnumbered the Americans, they made a 
dash to capture the ship ; they actually succeeded 
in turning her head to the land. But they were 
unarmed, and after a brief struggle, in which two 
were shot, they submitted, though a few succeeded 
in escaping in a boat. But the Bon Homme Richard 
was doomed. At nine o'clock she was abandoned ; 
at ten she rolled heavily, then settling by the bows 
went down, and the next instant, as Jones wrote, 
"I saw with inexpressible grief the last gHmpse of 
the Bon Homme Richard.'* 



THE LITTLE MAN IN BLUE 149 

Of the other captains of the fleet, Cottineau of 
the Pallas alone showed courage and professional 
skill ; by his admirable handHng of the slow, trans- 
formed merchant vessel he captured the Countess 
of Scarborough after an hour's fighting. The 
Vengeance took absolutely no part. Something 
of Landais's treachery and cowardice has already 
been told; later he approached the Pallas^ and 
found that she had captured the Countess. Cot- 
tineau asked him if he would take charge of the 
prize or go to the assistance of Jones, and finally 
Landais had sailed off, though not to help Jones. 

His reasons for his conduct are clear. He wished 
to sink the Bon Homme Richard, and then take 
the Serapis, already beaten by the Richard. Even 
after the battle was over he refused to go to the 
assistance of Jones. An investigation of his 
conduct later brought on his ruin. But it is idle 
to discuss his conduct; at that time he must 
have been insane. 

In the matter of loss on the several vessels, 
neither the Vengeance nor the Alliance had any 
casualties. On the Countess of Scarborough four 
men were killed and twenty were wounded; the 
loss on the Pallas was slight. Jones reported the 
loss on the Bon Homme Richard to be forty-nine 
killed and sixty-seven wounded; he stated that 



I50 JOHN PAUL JONES 

the wounded on the Serapis numbered more than 
a hundred, and that the killed probably numbered 
as many more. As the guardian of the ship's 
crew after the victory, he was in a position to know 
more of the facts in the case than Captain Pear- 
son, who, while giving through his surgeon a 
smaller number in both Hsts, confessed that there 
were many for whom he could not account. 

During the time that the ships remained on the 
scene of battle after the Serapis struck her flag, 
a jury rig was improvised for her ; and this being 
at last completed, the squadron bore away for 
Dunkirk, France. It was necessary to make port 
as quickly as possible, for Jones had five hundred 
prisoners aboard, including Captain Pearson and 
' Captain Piercy and their officers, and the moment 
for bringing about his long-desired exchange of 
prisoners seemed now at hand. But the Texel 
had been the port that Franklin in his orders to 
Jones had named as the destination of the fleet. 
The entirely unexpected results of the cruise had 
brought about a new situation, however, and Jones 
had excellent reasons for preferring to enter a 
French port. The difficulties that afterward 
arose concerning the exchange of prisoners and the 
sale of the prizes would have been avoided. 

For a week the fleet had contrary winds, and 



THE LITTLE MAN IN BLUE 151 

the French captains naturally grew nervous at 
the failure to reach port, for it was certain that 
a large fleet of British warships were hunting 
the audacious invaders of English waters. At 
last they refused to obey orders, and in a body 
deserted the Serapis and turned their ships toward 
the Texel. In view of the conditions of the Con- 
cordat, there was nothing left to Jones but to 
follow the fleet. On the 3d of October the squadron 
entered the Texel. 

Through the difflculties that now crowded 
upon him Jones displayed both judgment and 
courage. The instant that he appeared. Sir 
Joseph Yorke, the English minister at The Hague, 
made a demand upon the States- General to deHver 
the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough to 
him, to release the prisoners held by Jones, and 
to order the American '^ pirate" to leave the Texel 
at once. As the British squadron that had been 
pursuing him had arrived off the harbor shortly 
after his arrival, his forced departure would of 
course have resulted in the capture of his small 
fleet. 

By the terms of their treaties. Sir Joseph argued, 
Holland had agreed to return to the British all 
ships in her ports that had been captured by com- 
manders of hostile ships who bore the commissions 



152 JOHN PAUL JONES 

of unrecognized powers. Paul Jones bore the 
commission of the United States. If the States- 
General complied with the terms of the treaties, 
England would get her ships back, and Jones 
into the bargain ; if it did not comply, permitting 
Jones to remain, it would imply that Holland 
recognized Jones's commission as one issued by a 
sovereign power. This would mean a recognition 
of the United States as an independent power. 

The States- General tried to avoid the dilemma. 
It refused to give up the ships, but ordered Jones 
to leave the harbor, declaring at the same time 
that it had no intention of recognizing the American 
colonies. In truth, Holland was divided. Jones 
was popular with the people, who favored the 
recognition of America, and protested against any 
unfriendly act toward Jones, while the aristo- 
cratic party was opposed to him and to the col- 
onies. Whenever Jones appeared on the streets, 
he received a popular ovation, for the Dutch were 
deUghted with the humihation that he had brought 
upon England. Recognizing, however, the inse- 
curity of his position, he hastened the work of 
refitting his ships. He also went to The Hague 
to plead his own cause, and obtained the privilege 
of landing the most dangerously wounded among 
his prisoners and crew. A fort on the Texel was 



THE LITTLE MAN IN BLUE 153 

given up to the purpose, and Weibert was placed 
in command. 

Captain Pearson had added to his annoyances 
by protesting against his confinement, and when 
Jones offered to forward to him all his plate, linen, 
and property that had been on board the Serapis, 
Pearson refused to accept it from his hand, but 
added that he would consent to receive it from 
Captain Cottineau. With his usual superiority 
to all pettiness, Jones returned the property 
through Cottineau. Eventually, before leaving 
the Texel, Jones succeeded in exchanging Pearson 
for Captain Gustavus Conyngham. On Pearson's 
return to England he was knighted for ''his gallant 
defense of the Serapis against a greatly superior 
force!" When Jones heard of the knighting, he 
is reported to have said, "He has done well; 
and if he gets another ship and I fall in with him 
again, I will make a duke of him." 

The charges against Landais had been made 
out and signed and sent to Paris, whereupon Frank- 
lin, with the consent of the French ministry, 
ordered him to give up the command of the Alli- 
ance and return to Paris. He did not return 
before fighting a duel with Captain Cottineau, 
whom he wounded severely. Then Landais chal- 
lenged Jones, and Jones sent men to arrest him; 



154 JOHN PAUL JONES 

but Landais, getting word of the matter, hastened 
to Paris. 

Sir Joseph Yorke, meanwhile, continued to press 
his views upon the Dutch Government, which 
pressed them upon Jones, who quietly turned the 
matter over to the French ambassador and Frank- 
hn. At last the French Government acted. With 
FrankHn's consent, it ordered that the command 
of the Serapis be turned over to Captain Cottineau, 
and that all the vessels of the fleet except the 
Alliance hoist the French colors. The Alliance, 
as an American ship, it turned over to Jones. 
Thus in one moment Jones was deprived of his 
command and his prizes. Sir Joseph Yorke had 
no possible reason for demanding the return of 
French vessels, and therefore dropped the matter. 
Shortly after, the French ships and the prizes 
sailed for France under a Dutch convoy and 
arrived safely. Sir Joseph Yorke redoubled his 
efforts to force the Alliance to put to sea. But 
Jones was not to be hurried. A large fleet of 
Dutch ships, under the command of Admiral 
Rhynst, was on hand to hasten Jones's going, while 
outside a constantly increasing force of British 
ships waited for him. But he had found the Alli- 
ance in a frightfully bad condition, and until she 
was fit he stubbornly refused to move. 



THE LITTLE MAN IN BLUE 155 

When the French ships of his old squadron 
had sailed with their prizes and prisoners, the 
wounded prisoners in the fort on the Texel were 
of course left behind. These, having now recov- 
ered, Jones, despite all orders and protests, sent 
aboard the Alliance, together with the recovered 
members of the Bon Homme Richard's old crew. 
As he was now preparing to sail, Jones received 
from M. de Sartine, through the French ambassador 
at The Hague, a French commission, or naval 
letter of marque. This would have protected 
him on his homeward voyage, perhaps, and would 
certainly have removed all objection to his lin- 
gering on in the Texel, but with his usual appre- 
ciation of his dignity as an officer in the American 
navy, he refused to accept any security that came 
to him through his acceptance of the status of 
a mere privateer sman. 

To the almost daily commands of the Dutch 
admiral that he leave the port at once or display 
the French flag he retorted that he had no author- 
ity to hoist any flag but the American colors, or 
made no answer at all. The French commissary 
of marine at Amsterdam, having seen Vice- Admiral 
Rhynst's communication, suggested that he might 
forego the point, and display the French ensign 
on his ship without committing himself in any 



156 JOHN PAUL JONES 

way, but even this he refused to do. But his most 
determined stand was to state to the vice-admiral's 
staff-captain that he was tired of the daily threats 
and insults, and would receive no further communi- 
cations from the vice-admiral. Then he added 
that the staff-captain might say for him that if 
the vice-admiral's flagship, which mounted sixty- 
four guns, were at sea with the Alliance, the 
vice-admiral's attitude would not be borne for 
a moment. A doughty little man was Paul Jones. 
The vice-admiral sent no more messages. 

At last, being ready, on the night of the 27th 
of December, he hoisted his anchor and dropped 
down to the mouth of the Texel, and early next 
morning, in a heavy gale from the east, he made a 
dash for the sea. It is said that forty sail were 
waiting for him in the English Channel, and be- 
sides those sent out for that purpose, other ships 
and at least two large fleets were at anchor under 
the land. Perhaps no single vessel has ever been 
more numerously watched. His most likely cou 'se 
in flight would be up through the North Sea and 
around Scotland and Ireland, and few could have 
supposed that he would dare pass down through 
the narrow channel. That being the most unlikely 
course, because the most dangerous, that was 
therefore the course that he, being Jones, would 



THE LITTLE MAN IN BLUE 157 

naturally take. He passed down the channel ! 
The same gale that had given him his chance 
to leave harbor had driven the blockading English- 
men to the north, and hugging the Flemish coast 
with skill and boldness, he passed them all. Stag- 
gering under a great press of canvas, the Alliance 
then ran for the middle of the English Channel. 
The next day she passed through the Strait of 
Dover, running in close to the Goodwin Sands, 
with a large English fleet that had anchored in 
the Downs in full view only three miles away. 
The next day she ran close to the Isle of Wight, 
with another clear look at a fleet anchored at 
Spithead. 

By the first of January the Alliance was out of 
the channel. At different times in her wild flight 
several British ships of the line had been almost 
in range of her with their guns — almost ; never 
more. And never once had she lowered the Ameri- 
can flag! It was a wild and splendid piece of 
daring. It was not recklessness, but daring — 
the daring of a man who could calculate chances 
and the natural inferences of less subtle minds 
than his own. 

The Alliance herself was in a bad way. Landais 
had nearly ruined her. His stowing of ballast 
had strained her and lessened her great speed. 



158 JOHN PAUL JONES 

She was much overmanned, and carried a hundred 
prisoners as well, and she had on board two sets 
of officers, those who had come out from America 
with Landais, and those who had been on the Bon 
Homme Richard with Jones. Naturally there 
were jealousies and quarrels. The men of the 
Richard could neither forgive nor forget the con- 
duct of the others in the fight off Flamborough 
Head. Manlike, the others met contempt with 
contempt. It was the wish of all except Jones 
and a few more to reach France at once; but 
Jones wished more prizes. In a gale he ran into 
Corunna, Spain. There the ship was careened 
and her bottom scraped, and on January 28 was 
to sail again, but the crew refused to weigh anchor 
till they received a portion at least of their wages 
and prize-money. They had been paid nothing 
from the time the Alliance and the Richard had 
been put in commission till they reached the Texel. 
Here Jones had received a small sum of money, 
and from this he had advanced five ducats to 
each of the officers and one to each seaman. Some 
in their anger had thrown the paltry sum over- 
board. Their discontent was natural. 

Finally persuaded to weigh anchor through 
the promise of Jones to sail direct for L'Orient, 
the men waited with what patience they could. 



THE LITTLE MAN IN BLUE 159 

Fairly at sea, Jones broke his promise. Calling 
a conference of the officers in the cabin, he tried 
to persuade them to cruise for two or three weeks, 
but they bluntly refused. In a rage Jones dis- 
missed them with angry contempt, determined to 
go his own way. It is the period of his Hfe that 
one cares least to recall. But the quarreling and 
discontent became too great even for his stubborn 
will to contend with, and on falling in with the 
American ship Livingstone, he gave over the thought 
of prizes, finding in the task of convoying her 
into L'Orient a sort of plausible reason for return- 
ing to a port where his own promise to his men 
should long before have carried him. 



CHAPTER XII 

The Enmity of Landais 

The truth is that Jones was an ill man when 
he reached L'Orient. The long mental strain to 
which he had been subjected, the subsequent 
hard cruising and fighting, and the recent exposure 
in severe winter weather, with officers and crew 
disaffected to the point of mutiny, had left him 
broken in health, and possibly explain some of 
the actions of these days that one regrets to find 
in him. On reaching port he had gone ashore 
for a needed rest, but learning that the Alliance 
had been selected to carry to America a large 
supply of military stores that had been purchased 
for the army, he set about overhauling his ship 
for the voyage. 

Near the Alliance lay the SerapiSj and the beauty 
and strength of the ship, as well as an entirely 
natural feehng of sentiment, awakened in Jones 
a strong desire to command her. He wrote to 
Franklin, asking if she might not be purchased 
1 60 



THE ENMITY OF LANDAIS i6i 

and turned over to him. He expressed the hope 
that the French Government would pay for the 
repairs of the Alliance, and suggested that it 
might also give him the Serapis. Neither could 
be done, Franklin wrote in reply, and he begged 
Jones to be as economical as possible in refitting 
the. Alliance. 

Despite this warning, Jones made the repairs and 
changes that his experience and judgment dictated, 
to the great advantage of the Alliance, but with 
a correspondingly great distress on the part of 
Franklin when he saw the bills. However, he 
paid them. Possibly Jones had been for the mo- 
ment reckless of expense. His disheartening ex- 
periences with inadequate ships and equipments 
may have brought him to the point of revolt on 
this occasion, and though, unhappily, he was not 
now to receive the benefit of his careful outfitting 
of the Alliance, the ship herself was the better for 
it. For her size she had no superior afloat, and 
under Captain John Barry she had a brilliant 
career. 

Meanwhile the wages of the ship's people had not 
been paid. Early in April, Jones went up to 
Paris to hasten the sale of his prizes, leaving his 
discontented crew on the Alliance; and at this 
poiiit Arthur Lee appeared in L'Orient. His 



i62 JOHN PAUL JONES 

career in Paris as a commissioner had not been 
brilliant. Incompetent, prejudiced, and head- 
strong, he had injured the American cause. At 
odds with Franklin and Congress, he now came 
to L'Orient to return to America in the Alliance , 
much to the disgust of Jones. On the departure 
of Jones to Paris, Landais also appeared in L'Orient, 
probably at the suggestion of Lee, who had con- 
tinued to assert, in his hatred of Jones and his 
equally strong desire to oppose Franklin, that 
Landais was still the legal commander of the Alli- 
ance. Landais now sent a demand to Franklin 
to restore his command to him, an illogical act 
for one who denied Franklin's power to remove 
him. 

In Paris a brilliant reception had been given to 
Jones. To the people he was the great hero who 
had lowered the pride of hated England. The 
king and the queen gave him audience, and the 
king promised him a magnificent gold-mounted 
sword, to be inscribed with the motto, " Vindicati 
maris Ludovicus XVI remunerator strenuo vindicV^ 
C^ouis XVI, the rewarder, to the mighty deliverer, 
for the freedom of the sea"). He also declared 
his intention, should Congress permit, to bestow 
upon Jones the cross of the Order of MiHtary 
Merit, a distinction never before granted to any 



THE ENMITY OF LANDAIS 163 

but a subject of France. Great men sought his 
company, and the ladies of the court were proud 
to receive his attention. Naturally Jones was 
delighted, though he bore himself with modesty 
and ease. 

Meanwhile Jones had not neglected the business 
that brought him to Paris, and when, on the last 
day of May, he departed for L'Orient, he bore 
with him the positive assurance that his prizes 
would be sold at once and the distribution made. 
He also carried with him a letter of commendation 
from Franklin and another from M. de Sartine, 
both addressed to the president of Congress. M. 
de Sartine spoke in the highest praise of Jones, 
and also declared the intention of the king to 
bestow upon Jones the sword and, with the per- 
mission of Congress, the Order of Military Merit. 

During all this time, however, Franklin had 
been troubled with the affairs of the Alliance. 
He had paid the crew twenty-four thousand 
livres, and had told them that everything was being 
done to hasten the sale of the prizes; but on 
May 29, Landais had repeated his demand to be 
restored to the command of the ship, and had 
inclosed a letter signed by a hundred and fifteen 
of the crew who declared that they would not 
hoist an anchor or sail till they had received six 



l64 JOHN PAUL JONES 

months' wages and the whole of their prize-money, 
and "until their legal captain, P. Landais, is 
restored to us." The last phrase Landais had 
added. With this letter was another communi- 
cation from fourteen of the original officers of the 
Alliance, stating that the crew was in favor of 
Landais. As these officers had been blamed in 
part for the conduct of the Alliance in the fight 
with the Serapis, the cause of their dislike for Jones 
is evident. They had spread through the crew 
the statement that Jones had received the prize- 
money, and was enjoying himself at their expense. 

In replying to the letter of the officers, after 
expressing his surprise that the very men who had 
testified against Landais were now anxious to be 
placed under his command, Franklin wrote : 

"I have related exactly to Congress the manner 
of his [Landais's] leaving the ship, and though I 
declined any judgment of his manoeuvers in the 
fight, I have given it as my opinion, after examining 
the affair, that it was not at all likely either that 
he should have given orders to fire into the Bon 
Homme Richard, or that his officers should have 
obeyed such an order should it have been given 
them. Thus I have taken what care I could of 
your honour in that particular. You will, there- 
fore, excuse me if I am a Kttle concerned for it 



THE ENMITY OF LANDAIS 165 

in another. If it should come to be publicly known 
that you had the strongest aversion to Captain 
Landais, who has used you basely, and that it is 
only since the last year's cruise, and the appoint- 
ment of Commodore Jones to the command, that 
you request to be again under your old captain, 
I fear suspicions and reflections may be thrown 
upon you by the world, as if this change of senti- 
ment may have arisen from your observation 
during the cruise, that Captain Jones loved close 
fighting, but that Captain Landais was skilful in 
keeping out of harm's way; and that you, there- 
fore, thought yourself safer with the latter. For 
myself, I believe you to be brave men and lovers 
of your country and its glorious cause ; and I am 
persuaded you have only been ill advised and mis- 
led by the artful and malicious representations of 
some persons I guess at. Take in good part this 
counsel from an old man who is your friend. Go 
home peaceably with your ship. Do your duty 
faithfully and cheerfully. Behave respectfully to 
your commander, and I am persuaded he will 
do the same to you. Thus you will not only be 
happier in your voyage, but recommend yourselves 
to the future favors of Congress and your country.'' 
Franklin also directed Landais not to meddle 
with the men or create any disturbance on the 



i66 JOHN PAUL JONES 

ship at his peril. Jones had now arrived in 
L' Orient, and Franklin informed him by letter 
of what he had done. He also sent an imperative 
order to the authorities to arrest Landais, who was 
to be tried for his life for emigrating without the 
king's permission. 

On the 13 th of June, having learned of the mu- 
tinous letters of the crew and the officers, and 
received Franklin's letters, Jones mustered the 
crew and had his commission from Franklin to 
take charge of the vessel read to them. He 
pointed out the consequences of a refusal to obey 
his orders, and asked if any one desired to make a 
complaint against him. No reply being received, 
he dismissed them. Then Jones went ashore. 
Landais, knowing the situation, at once sent a 
letter to Degges, the first officer, ordering him to 
take command of the ship and hold it until Landais 
received a reply from Franklin to his demand to 
be restored to the command. He said that he 
would come aboard and assume command on the 
receipt of Franklin's order. 

Degges mustered the crew and read the letter, 
and they declared for Landais, and Landais, being 
apprised of this, at once came aboard and assumed 
command. Jones's old officers on the Bon Homme 
Richard were below at dinner during this last 



THE ENMITY OF LANDAIS 167 

act, and learning of Landais's coming from the 
cheering on deck, came up and protested against 
the assumption of the command by Landais, and 
were immediately put ashore. Lee must have 
known, indeed, must have suggested, this action 
on the part of Landais, for without his approval 
Landais would not have had the courage to move 
in the matter. 

Jones, meanwhile, had hurried to Paris. On 
arriving he learned that dispatches had been sent 
to L'Orient to detain the Alliance by force, and 
repeating the order to arrest Landais. On the 
20th of June, Jones again reached L'Orient. The 
Alliance had been warped out of the harbor into 
a narrow strait called Port Louis, which was com- 
manded by batteries that the ship would have to 
pass. Franklin's orders to stop the ship had not 
arrived, but under earlier orders the commandant 
of the port had stretched a barrier across the en- 
trance and had ordered the forts to sink the Alli- 
ance should she attempt to sail. On Jones's 
arrival, a boat was sent off to the ship with the 
king's order to arrest Landais, but he refused to 
give himself up. 

If Jones had now given the order to fire on the 
ship, it would have been done; but he did not. 
Instead, he requested the commandant to let the 



l68 JOHN PAUL JONES 

ship go. In the absence of the last positive orders 
from FrankHn, this was done. Jones afterward 
stated that he could not bear the thought of France, 
the powerful ally of America, opening fire on an 
American ship, and by that act forcibly endanger- 
ing the friendly relations of the two countries. 
Though this had a certain air of plausibility, no 
break of harmony could possibly have come through 
keeping the Alliance from sailing by holding the 
port closed by the barrier. Had Jones been pa- 
tient, all would in the end have gone well; but 
patience was a quality in which he was lacking. 
Altogether, he was blameworthy. No doubt he 
was tired of the ship, and dreaded the thought of 
taking her home with her hateful officers and crew 
and the still more hateful passenger, Lee. Prob- 
ably, too, he still longed for the Serapis. The 
hidden springs of his action are not clear. 

At all events, he had now lost his ship, and until 
Landais sailed, he deluged him with orders that 
Landais treated with contempt. His personal 
property, which Landais finally sent ashore, came 
to him in a disgraceful condition, with trunks 
broken open, papers scattered, and much miss- 
ing. Finally the ship sailed, with many of the old 
crew of the Bon Homme Richard in irons. They 
were still loyal to Jones, and had refused to assist 



THE ENMITY OF LANDAIS 169 

Landais in working the vessel. To close the 
matter, it may be said that the Alliance reached 
Boston in August. Landais's queer actions had 
so frightened the officers and endangered the vessel 
that Lee, meddlesome to the end, advised that he 
be closely confined until he reached America as 
a dangerously insane person. It was done. On 
his arrival in America he was tried by court-mar- 
tial and dismissed from the service, certainly a 
light sentence. Both he and his officers deserved 
far more. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Storm and Sunshine 

The sword that the king had promised to Jones 
was received early in July. He was delighted with 
its beauty, and frequently spoke with pride of its 
cost, which was said to be twenty-four hundred 
dollars. The Ariel, of twenty guns, had been 
loaned to Franklin to help the Alliance to convey 
to Philadelphia the military stores that had been 
purchased for the American army, and July was 
passed by Jones in preparing the ship for the 
voyage. He still longed for the Serapis, however, 
and dreaming of returning home with this visible 
proof of his glorious victory, he again deluged his 
friends with requests to aid him in procuring her. 
But the French Government was unresponsive, 
and Franklin, still vexed with him for letting the 
Alliance slip through his fingers, gave no assistance ; 
so, on October 7, at two in the afternoon, he sailed 
in the Ariel, convoying three merchantmen. The 
day was pleasant and mild, the wind fair. 

170 



STORM AND SUNSHINE 171 

In the morning the wind changed, blowing fresh 
from the south. The ship was not yet clear from 
the land, for the island of Groix lay only fifteen 
miles to leeward, and soon the wind was a gale, 
with a mist obscuring the sea — "dirty weather," 
as sailors call it. The heavy square-rigger of 
those days was ill fitted to '^claw" off the land, and 
the Ariel was soon sagging to leeward, with the 
Penmarque Rocks dangerously near. Under close- 
reefed mainsail and foresail the ship was headed 
northwest in the hope that she might reach clear 
of the rocks ; but the gale increased to hurricane 
force, and even a storm-sail could not be carried. 
The sea was tremendous ; at every roll the ship 
dipped her yard-arms under. Then the water 
began to shoal, and they knew that the rocks were 
near. 

It was eleven o'clock in the morning when they 
let their big anchor go, with thirty fathoms of 
cabl^. The great anchor might have been a 
feather, for all the good it did; it did not even 
bring the ship's head to the wind. Two more 
cables were bent on the first, but without effect, 
and the Ariel swept on toward the reef, with the 
wild discord of the gale shrieking and roaring 
through her rigging. Drifting broadside to the 
sea, from stem to stern she was swept clean of 



172 JOHN PAUL JONES 

every movable object. At last, with the thought 
of bringing her head to the wind and bringing her 
up on her anchor, Jones ordered the weather 
shrouds of the foremast to be cut. Under the force 
of the wind the foremast at once fell to leeward, 
carrying away the other anchor and smashing up 
the bow badly. 

Like a weather-vane, she now swung head to the 
wind on the pivot of her anchor, since the greater 
resistance to the wind was now farther aft; but 
the drift was not wholly checked. Then her main- 
mast also fell, carrying down with it the mizzen- 
mast, and wrecking the after part of the vessel. 
As well as they could they cleared the ship of the 
wreckage, and then waited. There was nothing 
more that man could do. The breakers could 
now be seen on the rocks close under their lee. 
Once there, no power could save a soul on the ship. 

They never reached that point, for suddenly the 
anchor held, and for three nights and two days it 
continued to hold. For the greater part of that 
time the motion of the ship was so tremendous 
that no man of all on board could keep his feet on 
deck. Thus passively they waited for the end. 

It was the 12 th of October when the hurricane 
abated, and the crew could again work about on 
the vessel. They fitted her with a jury, or tem- 



STORM AND SUNSHINE 173 

porary, rig, and hove in on the cable ; but when it 
was short, — that is, straight up and down, — 
they could not break out the anchor from the 
bottom. It had caught in the rocks, and this 
lucky chance was all that had saved them. So 
cutting the cable, they bore away for L'Orient 
again, which they reached the next day, so near 
had they been to their port of departure. The 
three merchantmen that had left port with them 
were lost, as well as hundreds of other vessels. 
The coast was strewn with bodies and with wreck- 
age. In the memory of man no severer gale had 
swept the shores of stormy Brittany. Long after- 
ward Richard Dale wrote : 

''Never saw I such coolness and readiness in 
such frightful circumstances as Paul Jones showed 
in the nights and days when we lay off the Pen- 
marques, expecting every moment to be lost ; and 
the danger was greater even than we were in when 
the Bon Homme Richard fought the Serapis.^' 

Two months passed before the Ariel was again 
ready for sea. In the interval of waiting, Thomas 
Truxtun, later a distinguished officer of the Ameri- 
can navy, but at that time the captain of a priva- 
teer, entered L'Orient, flying a pennant that an 
act of Congress had restricted to commissioned 
vessels of war. Jones ordered him to haul down 



174 JOHN PAUL JONES 

the pennant, and Truxtun refused; but when 
Jones sent Richard Dale with two boat-crews of 
armed men from the Ariel, Truxtun saw a new 
light and hauled down the flag. 

All the arms for the American navy with which 
the Ariel had first set out having been ruined by 
water, a new cargo was taken aboard, and on the 
8th of December she sailed again. Jones took the 
southern passage, as his cargo was valuable and 
his ship not of great force, and the chance of meet- 
ing powerful ships of the enemy was less likely on 
this route than on the more northerly one. When 
two thirds the way over, however, the Ariel was 
chased by a vessel that at first appeared to be a 
large frigate, and Jones crowded on sail in the 
endeavor to escape; but the stranger was faster, 
and though night fell before she came up, morning 
found her nearer. There was little wind through 
the day, but when late in the afternoon the wind 
freshened and the stranger drew up on the Ariel, 
Jones saw that she was less to be feared then he had 
thought, and confidently made ready for action. 
While still giving an appearance of trying to escape, 
he sent his men to their stations. Both ships 
were flying the English colors. As his pursuer 
ranged up abreast of him, Jones, with the inten- 
tion of hauling down the EngHsh flag and hoisting 



STORM AND SUNSHINE 175 

his own colors, and then crossing the stranger's 
bow and pouring in a broadside, had given the 
order to change the colors. Carelessly allowing 
one end of the halliards to escape his hold, however, 
the quartermaster spoiled the plan, and the right 
moment passed. Vessels of war at that time 
might sail under false colors in manoeuvering for 
position, but they made it a point of honor to fly 
their own flags when the time came to fight. 

The contest, from beginning to end, now rapidly 
developed into roaring farce. Jones hailed the 
ship, and learned from her captain that his name 
was John Pindar, his ship the Triumph, of twenty 
guns, and he himself an Englishman. Jones there- 
upon ordered him to lower a boat and bring 
his commission aboard in proof of the last state- 
ment, and when he refused, Jones, with his watch in 
his hand, declared that he would give him five 
minutes to obey the order or take the consequences 
of refusing. But Pindar would not ; and backing 
his ship on the weather quarter of the Triumph, 
Jones put his helm up, crossed her stern, and poured 
in a broadside. Then ranging alongside, for ten 
minutes he fought vigorously. The Triumph had 
replied with spirit at first, but gradually with 
lessening force, and at the end of ten minutes her 
flag was hauled down. The Ariel's men thereupon 



176 JOHN PAUL JONES 

left their stations to cheer. If Captain Pindar, 
like Wearyworld in "The Little Minister," had a 
weakness for conversation, he had also, like Weary- 
world, a great disinclination to remain in an un- 
comfortable situation. His ship, with her greater 
speed, had gradually forged ahead of the Ariel, 
and now putting up his helm, Pindar suddenly ran 
off before the wind before the guileless, rejoicing 
Americans could get back to their guns. The 
Triumph escaped. Jones expressed his natural 
resentment of Pindar's action as follows : 

"The English captain may properly be called a 
knave, because, after he surrendered his ship, 
begged for and obtained quarter, he basely ran 
away, contrary to the laws of naval war and the 
practice of civilized nations." 

A few days later, on February 17, 1781, the Ariel 
let go her anchor in the river at Philadelphia. 

On reaching Philadelphia, Jones was summoned 
before the board of admiralty to explain the delay 
in bringing the military stores purchased in France 
to America, but the summons was dismissed before 
he could appear, and instead he was asked to reply 
to a series of questions in regard to his actions after 
his arrival in L'Orient the year before. Mean- 
while, while preparing his replies, Jones sent to 
the president of Congress the letters he bore from 



STORM AND SUNSHINE 177 

Franklin and Sartine. On February 27, Congress 
adopted this resolution : 

^^ Resolved, That the Congress entertain a high 
sense of the distinguished bravery and military 
conduct of John Paul Jones, Esq., captain in the 
navy of the United States, and particularly in his 
victory over the British frigate Serapis, on the 
coast of England, which was attended with cir- 
cumstances so brilliant as to excite general applause 
and admiration. 

''That the Minister Plenipotentiary of these 
United States at the Court of Versailles communi- 
cate to his Most Christian Majesty the high satis- 
faction Congress has received from the conduct 
and gallant behavior of Captain John Paul Jones, 
which has merited the attention and approbation 
of his Most Christian Majesty, and that his Maj- 
esty's offer of adorning Captain Jones with a Cross 
of Military Merit is highly acceptable to Congress." 

Shortly after this consent was given, therefore, 
the French minister gave an entertainment to 
which the members of Congress and many citizens 
of Philadelphia were invited, and there Paul 
Jones was invested with the cross of the Order of 
Military Merit. He was shortly to receive an- 
other high honor. Having carefully considered his 
answers to their questions, the board of admiralty 



178 JOHN PAUL JONES 

expressed itself as satisfied that neither Jones nor 
Franklin was the cause of the delay in sending the 
stores, and in an enthusiastic message to Congress 
declared that Jones deserved some distinguished 
token of approbation. In accordance with this 
suggestion, on April 14, Congress passed the follow- 
ing resolution : 

^'Resolved, That the thanks of the United States, 
in Congress assembled, be given to Captain John 
Paul Jones, for the zeal, prudence, and intrepidity 
with which he hath supported the honor of the 
American flag; for his bold and successful enter- 
prises, to redeem from captivity the citizens of 
the States, who had fallen under the power of the 
enemy ; and, in general, for the good conduct and 
eminent services by which he has added lustre 
to his character and to the American arms. 

"That the thanks of the United States, in Con- 
gress assembled, be also given to the officers and 
men who have faithfully served under him from 
time to time, for their steady affection to the cause 
of their country, and the bravery and perseverance 
they have manifested therein." 

The thanks of Congress, the highest honor in the 
gift of the nation to an officer, were given to only 
five other officers in the Revolution, Washing- 
ton, Gates, Wayne, Morgan, and Greene. Jones, 



STORM AND SUNSHINE 179 

therefore, had good cause to be happy. A month 
later his pleasure was further increased by the 
receipt of a gracious and appreciative letter from 
Washington himself. Congress, too, about this 
time, considered a proposition to promote him to 
the rank of rear-admiral, and though the suggestion 
finally came to naught, owing to the opposition of 
certain other officers in the navy, the question of 
relative rank was settled in another way that was 
quite as satisfactory. The America, a splendid 
new ship of the hne, was at that time nearing 
completion at Portsmouth, and Congress, in 
selecting a captain for her by ballot, unanimously 
chose Jones, thus in effect placing him at the head 
of the navy-list, as the America was the most im- 
portant command in the navy. In his journal, 
with admirable good sense, Jones thus commented 
on the honor : 

*'Thus Congress took a delicate method to avoid 
cabal and to do justice. It was more agreeable to 
Captain Jones to be so honourably elected captain 
of the line than to have been, as was proposed by 
the committee, raised at once to the rank of rear- 
admiral, because Congress had not then the means 
of giving a command suitable to that rank." 

The board of admiralty being now abolished and 
Robert Morris made minister of marine, Jones was 



i8o JOHN PAUL JONES 

directed by him to present his accounts to Congress. 
Since his entrance into the service he had received 
no pay and only a small part of the prize-money due 
him, and had advanced large sums from his own 
purse for the benefit of his officers and crews. 
The Government now owed him twenty-seven 
thousand dollars, and in the absence of the pay- 
ment of this, he was obliged to ask for an advance 
of two thousand dollars for current expenses before 
he set out for Portsmouth to take charge of the 
America. He found her still on the stocks, and 
at once set to work to hasten her launching. 

But the work went slowly. Cornwallis sur- 
rendered, and the autumn passed, and the winter, 
and summer was again upon him with the ship still 
unlaunched. Yet in the fit tie seaport, surrounded 
by congenial friends, he passed one of the happiest 
periods of a life that had had too httle of happiness. 
Then once more a bitter disappointment fell upon 
him. The ship was nearly ready to take the water 
when the Marquis de Vaudreuil, with a squadron 
of French ships, entered the harbor of Boston, but 
lost the Magnifique on entering. As a recompense 
for the lost ship. Congress with that munificence 
that the poor at times display toward the rich, 
presented the America to the king of France, and 
Morris with sadness informed Jones. Jones's 



STORM AND SUNSHINE i8i 

high-minded letter in reply made so strong an 
impression on Morris that he submitted the letter 
to Congress. 

After the America was launched, Jones returned 
to Philadelphia. By a curious chance, the frigate 
Indien, long sought by Jones, was then in that city, 
and Morris, always his friend, and now doubly an- 
xious to serve him because of the loss of the 
America, tried to obtain her for Jones; but the 
plan falHng through, Jones obtained the per- 
mission of Congress to sail with the Marquis de 
Vaudreuil in an expedition against Jamaica. The 
expedition achieved nothing, and on April 4, 
1783, at Porto Cabello, Jones, having learned of 
the signing of the treaty of peace between the 
United States and Great Britain, and being ill 
at the time with fever, returned to Philadelphia. 

His future course was now uncertain, for he 
was still too ill for active service at sea, and, more- 
over, the United States was now virtually without 
any navy. He tarried for a while at Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania, until his health was much improved. 
Yet even ill health did not lessen the activity of 
his mind, for while he was yet at Bethlehem he 
again busied himself with plans for organizing a 
navy for the country. Many of his suggestions 
were adopted when at last the nation saw its way 



i82 JOHN PAUL JONES 

clear to establish that branch of national service. 
The idea of settling down on land, always a dream 
of the sailor, and "marrying some fair daughter 
of liberty,'' also appears to have been in his 
thoughts at this period, and he even wrote to 
friends concerning an estate near Newark, New 
Jersey, that he desired to purchase. But the dream 
of a home came to naught, and when early in 
November of that year of freedom he was appointed 
by Congress to act as a special commissioner to 
obtain from France the money due from the prizes 
taken by the Bon Homme Richard and her sister 
ships in his squadron, he at once sailed for France 
to take up the task. He was obliged to give bonds 
to the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, and 
his high reputation for integrity may be easily 
read in the fact that even in that day of far differ- 
ent values, and in a country made poor by war, 
he had no difficulty in securing bondsmen. 



CHAPTER XIV 

With the Russian Fleet 

Jones had sailed for Europe in the packet 
Washington. The ship had touched at Plymouth, 
and for the first time in many years, except as an 
enemy, Jones was again on EngKsh soil. He went 
up to London to consult with John Adams, then 
minister, but was soon again in France, where he 
was cordially welcomed by the king and queen and 
by the new minister of marine, the Marechal de 
Castries. Society also again received him most 
graciously. Against all the attempts of the 
French Government to reduce the amount of the 
prize-money due him and his companions he fought 
long and successfully, and at last it was paid. One 
hundred and eighty-one thousand livres, or nearly 
forty thousand dollars, was the exact sum. He 
made no charge for collecting the sum, but his 
expenses were set at forty-eight thousand livres. 
His own share of the money was thirteen thousand 
livres. Certainly the amount used for living ex- 

183 



184 JOHN PAUL JONES 

penses was extravagantly high, though surely not 
improperly so in his own estimation. He had 
always been indifferent to money, though not to 
the things it might procure, and he had a high 
appreciation of his own dignity and of the dignity 
of the nation he represented. The French court 
was extravagant, and he held his place in it as an 
equal, and no question of economy was likely to 
disturb him in such surroundings. Certainly we 
have now no reason to blame him if Congress did 
not, for his expenditures were approved by that 
body. 

It was during this long stay in France that he 
gave one more proof of his activity of mind in 
circumstances where most men would have given 
themselves up to the pleasures of the hour and the 
set tasks that came to their hands. He busied 
himself with many projects, the most notable one 
being to engage in the fur trade in the Pacific. 
His companion in this scheme was the explorer 
Ledyard, who had sailed round the world with 
Captain Cook, and the plan was finally dropped 
because of a lack of money to carry it through. 
But the keen business instinct of the man who first 
conceived the idea is clearly seen when one recalls 
the enormous fortunes that were afterwards made 
in this trade. 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 185 

Early in 1787, Jefferson suggested to him that 
he go to Denmark to push through a claim for 
indemnity for the loss of the prizes that his 
squadron had sent to Bergen, and which were there 
given up to the British. He had reached Brussels 
on his journey when the lack of necessary funds 
decided him to return first to America, where the 
auditors of the United States Treasury were dis- 
puting his large claims for personal expenses in 
collecting the prize-money from France. On 
reaching America, his personal explanation of the 
matter at least satisfied Congress, as has already 
been stated, and, in addition, that body took the 
occasion to pass the following resolutions : 

^^ Resolved J That a medal of gold be struck, 
and presented to the Chevalier Paul Jones in com- 
memoration of the valor and brilHant service of 
that officer in the command of a squadron of Ameri- 
can and French ships under the flag and commission 
of the United States, off the coast of Great Britain, 
in the late war ; and that the Honourable Mr. Jef- 
ferson, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United 
States at the Court of Versailles, have the same 
executed with the proper devices." 

On October 25, Congress passed resolutions on 
the failure of Denmark to pay the prize claim al- 
ready mentioned, and instructed Jefferson, now 



i86 JOHN PAUL JONES 

minister to France, to dispatch the Chevalier Paul 
Jones to prosecute the claim at the court of Den- 
mark. A few days later Jones sailed for Europe. 
On reaching Paris, Jefferson informed him that 
the question of asking him to enter the ser\ace of 
the Empress Catharine II of Russia had been 
seriously discussed by the Russian ambassador in 
his absence. Russia was at that time engaged in 
war with Turkey, and certain reverses to the fleet 
in the Black Sea had caused much concern in 
the court at St. Petersburg. At the moment 
when Jones was about to leave Paris for Copen- 
hagen, the Russian ambassador told him that he 
had brought the matter to the attention of the 
empress and she had been favorably impressed 
with the suggestion. 

Jones therefore set out for Copenhagen in high 
hopes of again seeing active service. He reached 
the capital on the 4th of March, and received a 
most cordial welcome from the king and queen 
and the leading people of the country, but the 
matter of his business there went less well. The 
Government evaded the question, and taking ad- 
vantage of the unfortunate clause in the resolution 
of Congress that all action should be referred back 
to Jefferson in Paris, finally declared that it was 
impossible to act through an agent. Receiving 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 187 

at this stage a definite summons to come to Russia, 
Jones put the business of collecting the prize-money 
in the hands of Jefferson, which was all that he 
could do in any case, and made ready for his 
departure. It may be interesting to know that 
Denmark never paid the money. For over sixty 
years the negotiations dragged on, and in 1847 
Denmark finally denied all accountability for the 
claim. A year later Congress provided for the 
payment of the prize-money concerned in the case 
to the heirs of Paul Jones and others entitled to 
share in it. 

At the moment of leaving, Paul Jones wrote to 
Jefferson : 

While I express in the warm effusion of a grateful heart, 
the deep sense I feel of my eternal obligation to you as the 
author of the honourable prospect that is now before me, I 
must rely on your friendship to justify to the United States 
the important step I now take, conformable to your advice. 
You know I had no idea of this new fortune when I found 
that you had put it in train, before my last return to Paris from 
America. I have not forsaken a country that has had many 
disinterested and difficult proofs of my steady affection, and 
I can never renounce the glorious title of a,. citizen of the 
United States. 

In his negotiations with her Majesty's agent, the 
only conditions he made before agreeing to enter 
her service were that he should never be expected 



i88 JOHN PAUL JONES 

to bear arms against the United States or France, 
that he should at all times be subject to recall by 
Congress, and that he should not entertain the 
thought of giving up citizenship in America. 

About the middle of April, 1788, he set out for 
Russia by way of Stockholm and Gresholm. The 
ice was still heavy in the Gulf of Bothnia, so hiring 
an open thirty-foot boat and a small tender, he 
determined to cross the Baltic Sea, concealing from 
his boatmen, in view of the almost winter weather, 
his destination. A strong east wind had driven 
the ice toward the Swedish coast. Nearing Stock- 
holm by night, his crew, alarmed for their safety, 
determined, in defiance of orders, to run for 
shelter ; but Jones, drawing his pistols and seizing 
the helm, commanded them to beat to sea. Others 
had learned that when on the deck of a ship he was 
not one to trifle with, and they obeyed. Through 
a driving snow-storm, though the wind had changed 
to the west, they ran through floating ice with only 
Jones's pocket compass and a lantern from his 
carriage to direct them in their course. The second 
night was worse than the first. Their tender 
was crushed in the ice, and their own boat narrowly 
escaped. Between the cold and the storm and the 
grim little figure who seemed neither to rest nor 
sleep, the men were well-nigh helpless with terror. 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 189 

But, thanks to Paul Jones's seamanship and grim 
courage, they came through in safety, and four 
days later landed at Reval, on the south shore of 
the Gulf of Finland. They had sailed five hundred 
miles, and those who had known of his sailing at 
the time supposed he had perished. But nothing 
ever daunted him when he was at sea; there his 
audacity was superb. It was not foolhardiness, 
however. He knew the sea and ships; he had 
also the grim determination that delights in ob- 
stacles for the sheer joy of overcoming them. Now 
he paid his boatmen for the loss of their tender and 
for their unwilling services also, and set out for 
the Russian court. 

On the 6th of May the empress received him 
most graciously and made him a rear-admiral, to 
his great delight. He said, in writing of the meet- 
ing, that he had asked only one favor, — that 
he might never be condemned unheard. It was 
the one thing that he was not to get in Russia, 
though all that lay in the future. For the moment 
everything was delightful. He was entertained 
royally by all the notables of the city, with the 
single exception of the Enghsh. There were many 
of them in the service of the empress, and with 
one voice they cried out against him as a mere 
smuggler and pirate. It is more than possible 



igo JOHN PAUL JONES 

that Jones was rather proud of the anger and 
affected contempt of the British. The reason was 
plain enough, and not likely to hurt the pride of a 
man who had a high notion of his own merits. 

On May i8, Jones set out for the headquarters 
of Potemkin, who had charge of the military opera- 
tions in the south. Against his protest, he was to 
be under the orders of Potemkin, who received him 
most graciously. The world has never fully de- 
cided whether Potemkin was genius or madman; 
he had all the quaHfications of both. He had been 
a favorite of the empress, and he had held great 
power. Under his definite orders Jones now en- 
tered a campaign that was doomed to fail, for 
Jones was not a good subordinate. Jones was 
further curbed by being associated in some un- 
defined way with Prince Otto of Nassau-Siegen. 
They had already met. Nassau had asked to 
serve under Jones in the Indien when Jones had 
expected to command that ship, but afterward had 
treated Jones with discourtesy. He had never 
succeeded in any undertaking, and now he was to 
be associated with Jones. 

The object of their campaign was to capture the 
city of Otchakoff. It lay on the Turkish frontier 
(on the Liman, an estuary at the mouth of the 
Dneiper River), not far from Odessa, and so long 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 191 

as it remained in the hands of the Turks menaced 
Russian communications. It was strongly fortified 
and garrisoned, and had in addition a fleet of a 
hundred and twenty armed vessels of all sizes, 
under the command of a distinguished admiral. 
Leaving Potemkin, in company with one of his 
staff -officers, Jones proceeded to Kherson, the 
principal Russian naval station in that region. 
Here the chief of admiralty treated him with in- 
difference, and though he had been ordered by 
Potemkin to give Jones all the particulars of the 
situation, he really told nothing. On arriving at 
Glubora the next day Jones had a new disappoint- 
ment. His fleet consisted of fifteen vessels, and 
all were badly built and wholly unsuitable. At 
anchor with the fleet was a large flotilla of gunboats, 
each carrying a single heavy gun and often smaller 
pieces, manned by thirty or forty men, and pro- 
pelled mainly by oars. This flotilla Nassau com- 
manded, and though Jones had been told that he 
was to have charge of all naval operations in the 
campaign, he now found that Nassau's command 
was independent. He was simply cooperating with 
Jones, which might mean anything or nothing. It 
was, as he saw at once clearly, an unlikely path to 
glorious achievements. 

Jones went at once aboard the Wolodimer, his 



192 JOHN PAUL JONES 

flagship. The squadron had been previously 
under the command of a Greek named Alexiano, 
and Jones found that he had attempted to persuade 
the captains of the fleet to refuse to recognize his 
authority. They would not agree, and Alexiano 
submitted with very ill grace. On the same even- 
ing, June 6, 1788, Jones hoisted his rear-admiral's 
flag. General Suvoroff was in command of a 
strong fortress at Kinburn, on the bank of the 
Liman opposite Otchakoff , but it lay too far inland 
to be really effective. Jones had gone to view the 
situation of the town on the day of his arrival, and 
his keen military sense at once saw the necessity of 
placing a strong battery at the end of ELinburn 
Point. He told Suvoroff, and Suvoroff imme- 
diately acted upon his advice, and generously gave 
Jones all the credit, though his own neglect to 
place a battery there was a reflection on his own 
skill. Before the guns were placed, the Turkish 
admiral, with twenty-one frigates and sloops of 
war and a few smaller crafts, took up his position 
in the Liman, off Otchakoff. A flotilla of gun- 
boats about equal in number to the Russian flotilla 
followed him. Larger Turkish vessels, unable to 
enter the shoal waters of the Liman, lay to the west 
of the city, and took no -part in' the action. 

On the 9th of June, the squadron, having re- 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 193 

ceived on board a strong reinforcement of soldiers, 
took up its position near the entrance to the Liman, 
forming a long line that would enable it to pour a 
cross fire on ships approaching from Otchakoff. 
Thus stationed, it commanded the approach from 
the sea, protected the naval station at Kherson, 
and would be able to support Potemkin's troops 
when they advanced to the attack of Otchakoff. 
Near the squadron lay the Russian flotilla, under 
the command of Nassau. On the afternoon of 
June 18, the Turkish flotilla advanced in two divi- 
sions against the Russian flotilla on its right flank, 
which almost at once gave ground. On account of 
shoal water, the squadron had not been able to 
enter into the action, but Jones left his flagship and 
went to Nassau's galley, being unable to stand idly 
by when fighting was under way. He found 
Nassau completely unstrung and bent on retreat, 
but Jones protested, and, Nassau not objecting, 
he proceeded to take command. Bringing up the 
unengaged part of the flotilla in such fashion 
that he was likely to bring the Turkish fleet be- 
tween two fires and cut off its retreat, Jones brought 
about the instant flight of the enemy. Two of 
their gunboats were captured. 

As the engagement had been fought by the flo- 
tilla alone, Nassau insolently reported its success 



194 JOHN PAUL JONES 

to Potemkin as due to himself solely, and in 
contemptuous silence Jones let the claim pass un- 
disputed. 

A few days later the Russian army advanced to 
besiege the city, and as a counter-movement the 
Turkish commander of the fleet began operations 
against Jones's squadron. The wind was fair for 
him, and as his squadron bore down upon the 
Russians, Nassau's courage again vanished and 
he clamored to retreat; but Jones, paying no 
heed to him, weighed anchor and waited for the 
Turks to draw near. Shortly after midday, how- 
ever, the Turkish flagship grounded on the shoals 
off the south bank of the Liman, and the advance 
was immediately arrested, with the whole Turkish 
squadron anchoring about the flagship. 

A council was called aboard the Wolodimer, and 
Jones finally persuaded his Russian captains to 
attack the Turks. During the night the wind 
had shifted about, now giving the Russians the 
fair wind, and at daybreak on the 29th of June 
their squadron bore down on the Turks, with the 
Wolodimer in the lead. The flagship of the Turks 
had been floated, but their ships were unskillfully 
grouped together, and as Jones led his ships down 
at an angle that permitted his whole fleet to get 
into action and surround the huddled ships of the 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 195 

enemy, taken by surprise by the audacity of the 
approach, the Turks were thrown into confusion, 
and the flagship and the ship of the second Turkish 
officer went aground. Neither could make any 
return of the heavy fire that was now centered upon 
them, and both struck their colors, and were aban- 
doned by their crews. The other ships of the 
squadron fled back to Otchakoff. As the Wolo- 
dimer neared the stranded flagship of the Turks, 
Alexiano, the Greek who had formerly commanded 
the Wolodimer and was now serving under Jones, 
let go her anchor. Jones was ignorant of the 
action until his ship stopped. 

The Turkish commander, who was certainly 
no coward, had hoisted his flag in the meanwhile 
on one of the gunboats of the flotilla, and now 
returned to the fight, pouring in a vigorous fire 
upon the right wing of the Russian squadron. 
With their flagship anchored, the Russian squadron 
was now in great peril. One of its frigates, the 
Little Alexander, was set on fire and blown up. 
The deep-draft ships of the squadron could not 
approach the Turkish flotilla, which kept in shoal 
water, and their light guns were ineffective against 
the heavier guns of the flotilla. The heavy guns 
of the Russian flotilla were now desperately needed, 
but they had loitered behind in a disorderly for- 



196 JOHN PAUL JONES 

mation, and to Jones's dispatch to Nassau to come 
up, no attention whatever was paid. 

Again, therefore, was Jones forced to take him- 
self on board Nassau's galley. He found him far 
in the rear, well out of harm's way, and set on 
attacking the two stranded ships, now of course 
defenseless, as they lay heeled over on the shoals. 
Unable to get him to act, Jones appealed to his 
second in command. Brigadier Corsakoff, and he, 
with more courage, brought the flotilla into action, 
and after a desperate fight drove off the Turkish 
flotilla with great loss to the latter. Jones had 
returned to the Wolodimer, — both trips were made 
through a furious fire, — but before he got under 
way, Nassau, with a few of his gunboats, had 
surrounded the two stranded ships and set fire 
to them with bombs. It was an unpardonable 
act; it was a childish destruction of property. 
The two ships were in the power of the squadron, 
and would have been valuable additions to it. 
With the destruction of the two ships, no trophy 
of a decided victory remained in the hands of the 
victors but the flag of the Turkish admiral. 

It was now late in the afternoon, but Jones gave 
orders to move on Otchakoff and strike a final 
blow at the Turkish fleet before it could recover. 
Now, however, Nassau preferred to remain where 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 197 

he was. Disregarding him as usual, Jones pro- 
ceeded with the squadron as near to Otchakoff 
as the shallow water permitted, and then anchored 
his ships across the channel. Turkish ships 
attempting to escape would find it necessary to 
pass under the guns of the squadron and of the 
battery on Kinburn Point, which, by the way, 
as has already been related, was placed in that 
position by the advice of Jones. Nassau's flotilla 
in the end came up, and massed itself on the right 
flank of the squadron. The Turkish squadron and 
flotilla lay under cover of the Otchakofif fortifica- 
tions. There was nothing, therefore, for Jones to 
do but to wait. 

But he was not one to wait in idleness. In 
order to get a more certain knowledge of the lay of 
the land, just before sunset he passed along the 
whole Turkish line in a small boat, taking soundings 
of the depth of the water. It was both impudent 
and reckless. He was well within range of the 
guns of the forts and the fleet, yet not a gun was 
fired. 

That night the Turkish commander attempted to 
work out of the harbor and escape. Trying to 
avoid both the ships of Jones's squadron and the 
battery on Kinburn Point, nine of his largest 
ships ran aground. A few of the fleet passed 



igS JOHN PAUL JONES 

safely and the others returned to the protection 
of the forts of the city. Morning disclosed the 
plight of the nine ships that had grounded. Gen- 
eral Suvoroff, who had in person commanded the 
battery on ELinburn Point that night, signaled to 
Jones to take possession of them ; but when he 
was about to send a light-draft frigate for that 
purpose, Alexiano informed him that the ebb tide 
at the place where the ships had grounded ran like 
a mill-race, and was therefore dangerous for a 
sailing vessel, Jones, upon the advice of his cap- 
tains, turned over the task of taking possession of 
the ships to the flotilla. With the consent of 
Jones, Alexiano went in with Nassau. 

When they came within range, the gunboats of 
the flotilla opened fire, but the Turks made no 
reply ; for, heeled over on the shoals as they were, 
the ships could not bring their guns to bear. There 
was nothing for them to do but surrender, and this 
they did. Nassau paid no attention. He con- 
tinued his fire ; and when he realized the helpless 
state of the stranded ships, he drew nearer, and 
resorted to bombs, firing the ships. Imploring 
mercy, the wretched Turks knelt on the decks 
and even made the sign of the cross in their efforts 
to touch the hearts of their foes. It was all in 
vain. They were in the power of ruthless bullies 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 199 

and cowards ; in a galley, at a safe distance in 
the rear of the attacking gunboats, Nassau and 
Alexiano, who had ordered the butchery, sat and 
rejoiced in the awful spectacle. Seven ships were 
burned and three thousand Turks were wantonly 
murdered. Two ships alone escaped, and were 
later added to the squadron. Immediately after 
the destruction of the vessels, Nassau forwarded 
a report of their operations to Potemkin, claiming 
that the flotilla — their flotilla — had burned nine 
ships of the line and captured two. 

Jones had viewed the scene with horror and 
wonder. He could fight to the last against brave 
men who fought back, but when the fight was 
over, and the enemy in his power, he was the most 
merciful of men. It was the turning-point with 
Jones. At the beginning he appears to have tried 
to work in harmony with Nassau, but Nassau's 
inefficiency, his lack of character, his cowardice, 
his utter inabihty to perform the most ordinary 
maneuvers with his flotilla, almost at once stirred 
Jones's impatience and scorn. And now this 
heartless cruelty ! He could no longer conceal 
his scorn and contempt. He was soon to have 
added to all this an acute sense of injustice. 

For Potemkin, who at this time was fond of 
Nassau, gave him the whole credit of the successes 



200 JOHN PAUL JONES 

that were due to Jones, and to Jones alone. Such 
was the report that he dispatched to the empress, 
in his regard for Nassau suppressing all reference 
to the wholesale destruction of the ships which 
would have been a valuable addition to the Black 
Sea squadron. With a perverted sense of fairness 
and justice, he said in his report that Jones had 
also done his duty. 

For ten days the fleet remained inactive while it 
waited for Potemkin to invest Otchakoff. On the 
night of the 8th of July, being at last ready to move, 
he sent orders to Nassau to destroy the Turkish 
flotilla under the walls of the city. Jones received 
orders to give all possible assistance. For a few 
days the weather made action impossible, but on 
the night of the 12th the advance was begun. It 
was impossible to use his ships in the shoal water, 
but Jones manned his boats, to be used in towing 
the gunboats. 

At daybreak the Russian gunboats opened fire. 
After towing those in his charge to a favorable 
position, Jones led the boats of the Wolodimer 
against five of the Turkish galleys that lay within 
the range of the fort built at the extreme point 
below the city called Fort Hassan. The galleys 
lay between the fire of Fort Hassan and the Russian 
flotilla, and were covered by the guns of the Turkish 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 201 

flotilla and those of the citadel of Otchakoff . An 
attack on them, therefore, was a hazardous venture. 
Jones was far in advance of the flotilla, which, 
with Nassau in command, showed their usual re- 
luctance to go into danger. Despite a hot fire, 
Jones made for the nearest galley, and captured 
it by boarding after a furious hand-to-hand fight. 
Turning the captured galley over to a Heutenant, 
with orders to tow her to safety, Jones moved 
against the next galley, which by chance was the 
galley of the admiral of the Turkish squadron. 
The boat lay near the fort and was desperately 
defended by its crew, but nothing could withstand 
the inspiring leadership of Jones in battle, and the 
galley was presently surrendered. Her cable was 
cut without orders, and she grounded under the 
walls of Fort Hassan, the object of a withering fire. 
Being eager to bring her out as a prize, Jones 
lightened her as much as possible and sent to the 
flagship for a kedge, a small anchor, with which to 
haul her off the shoal. While waiting for this, he 
manned the boats and tried to bring up the Russian 
flotilla. Partly succeeding, three other galleys of 
the enemy struck their flags, and the rest of the 
Turkish flotilla retreated with heavy loss. The 
kedge had now been brought, but before anything 
could be done in the matter of hauling off the 



202 JOHN PAUL JONES 

captured galley, fire was seen breaking out on the 
two gunboats that Jones had previously captured. 
Alexiano had again been at work ; he had ordered 
them to be fired. The three other captured gun- 
boats shared the same fate. On the five galleys 
only fifty-two prisoners, whom Jones himself 
brought off in his own boats, were saved. These 
galleys were propelled by oars, and the rowers 
were slaves and most probably captive Christians. 
They perished with the Turks that remained on 
board after the surrender. Two ships were 
burned under the walls of Fort Hassan. The re- 
mainder of the flotilla did nothing. 

Thus ended Jones's naval adventures with the 
Russian fleet. In three weeks he had fought four 
engagements, all personally directed by him. With 
fifteen ships against twenty-one, he had yet des- 
troyed thirteen of the Turkish squadron and many 
galleys. A few ships had escaped ; a few had 
sought shelter in the harbor. The Turkish naval 
force in the Liman was virtually crushed. Eleven 
ships might have been prizes had it not been for 
Nassau, who in his cowardice turned only to 
destruction. Everything had been done by Jones. 
Nassau had always skulked until fighting was 
well over, and then had been quick to destroy the 
fruit of the victory of others. Yet now he and 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 203 

Alexiano hastened to Potemkin with their per- 
verted reports, and Potemkin received them with 
favor. Jones had been ignorant of their going, 
and he took no steps to set matters right. In due 
time he made his own report of the battle in the 
accustomed way. His report was suppressed. It 
is doubtful if the empress ever knew the truth 
of the matter. 

Two day later Alexiano returned to the flagship, 
and on July 19 he died, stricken with fever. On 
the day of his death the empress granted him a 
large estate. At the same time Nassau received 
from her hand a valuable estate, with thousands 
of serfs, and the military order of St. George. The 
empress also directed him to hoist a vice-admiral's 
flag on the surrender of Otchakoff. Paul Jones 
received the minor order of St. Anne, and nothing 
more. So things were ordered in Russia at the 
close of the eighteenth century. 

There is little more to relate concerning the cam- 
paign. It is clear that the failure to give Jones 
his due lay at the door of Potemkin. There was 
nothing to draw the two together, for Potemkin 
was difficult, and Jones no courtier. Potemkin 
preferred Nassau, and though he shortly dismissed 
him from his command, it was not to Jones's gain. 
Littlepage, the American, who had accepted the 



204 JOHN PAUL JONES 

command of one of the ships of the squadron, 
unable to endure a situation that was intolerable, 
threw up his command and departed. On leaving 
he wrote to Jones : 

''Farewell, my dear Admiral ; take care of your- 
self, and look to whom you trust. Remember that 
you have rather to play the part of a politician than 
a warrior — more of a courtier than a soldier." 

It was a part Paul Jones was ill fitted to play. 
The situation between him and Potemkin grew 
more and more strained. Their correspondence 
took on a caustic tone; Potemkin wrote an un- 
pudent letter at last, and Jones replied hotly. On 
the 28 th of October, Potemkin relieved him from 
his command. The letter advising him of this 
stated that the empress desired his service in 
Northern waters, but this was merely a pretext. 

It is not pleasant to dwell upon Jones's career in 
Russia. He had shown anew his valor and his 
power to inspire his men with something of his own 
spirit ; he had displayed the highest order of skill 
and genius to direct large movements : but in the 
Russia of that time it had all gone for naught. 
One turns from the story with rehef . He returned 
to St. Petersburg from the Liman, but there his 
old popularity had waned. Potemkin was se- 
cretly against him ; Nassau and the English of the 



WITH THE RUSSIAN FLEET 205 

court circle were openly against him; and the 
empress would not receive him. Through a 
letter from Jefferson he now became aware that 
all his correspondence since he had been in the 
Russian service had been intercepted. Examining 
the official records, he learned that the reports of 
his actions on the Liman had been falsified. Now 
once more in St. Petersburg, he was to be vilely 
slandered, and though in the end he was to be 
fully vindicated (mainly through the untiring zeal 
and devotion of M. de Segur, the French ambas- 
sador to St. Petersburg), and the empress was to 
receive him graciously before his departure and 
declare that she was granting him permission to 
absent himself for a brief time only, he was never 
to be called back to her service. Journeying slowly, 
he stopped for a while at Warsaw, visited Vienna 
and London, and in May he was back in Paris. 



CHAPTER XV 

Friendships and Honors 

The dark shadow of the cloud that was to deluge 
all France with woe had already crept over the 
dear city where he had passed some of the happiest 
years of his Hfe, and with all his broken hopes and 
keen disappointments, and now, too, with the 
shadow of failing health darkening his spirit, he 
took his quiet place in the troubled and broken Ufa 
of the city. Yet the time for him was not wholly 
unhappy. His needs were simple now in this 
simpler period, and he had enough to provide for 
them. He busied himself with his journals and in 
arranging his papers, and as ever he continued his 
loved correspondence. At times he visited the 
Sorbonne for pleasant talk with congenial scholars. 
He lived in a comfortable house in the rue de Tour- 
non, and his physician, the physician of the queen, 
by the way, was one of the best in France. Gouv- 
erneur Morris, then the American minister to 
France, was his warm friend ; he had other warm 
friends as well. 

so6 



FRIENDSHIPS AND HONORS 207 

He was now to learn at first hand of a new kind 
of liberty — a liberty that for him had no appeal. 
In a general way his sympathies had always gone 
out to struggling humanity, but in truth he was a 
born ruler both in instinct and through a lifelong 
practice of absolute control on the quarter-deck 
of a ship. The training of years as a commander 
had strengthened an instinct for authority and 
order and discipline in Paul Jones. With sad 
foreboding he saw France falling into unbridled 
license in her struggle for a kind of liberty that 
made no appeal to his nature. So little by little 
he drifted away from the troubled life about him, 
more and more taken up with his own alarming 
condition. 

The disease, which had been rapidly spreading 
through his body, grew more threatening in July, 
and on the afternoon of the i8th, Gouverneur 
Morris himself drew up his will. His intimate 
friends were the witnesses, and when he signed the 
document it was not as the commodore or the 
chevalier or the admiral, titles long dear to his 
fame-loving heart, but as "John Paul Jones, a 
citizen of the United States." His property, thirty 
thousand dollars in value, he devised to his two 
surviving sisters and their children. 

Early that same evening his friends left him, 



2o8 JOHN PAUL JONES 

still seated in an arm-chair in his drawing-room. 
A little later his physician called. He found the 
chair empty. The door of the bedroom adjoining 
was open, and he walked into the room. Prone on 
the bed the great warrior-sailor, at the age of forty- 
five, lay dead. 

The place of his burial had long been forgotten 
when General Horace Porter entered upon his du- 
ties as American ambassador to France. Moved, 
as he said, by a deep sense of humiliation that 
America's first and most fascinating naval hero lay 
in an unknown and forgotten spot, General Porter 
began in 1899 the patriotic task of locating it. 
The certificate of burial had been registered; but 
the certificate, with other records, had been burned 
by the Commune in 187 1. Fortunately, however, 
Mr. Charles Read, an archaeologist and author of 
note, being also interested in the matter, before the 
destruction of the certificate had made a copy of 
it, and further researches by him had led him to 
believe that the burial had been in the Protestant 
cemetery of St. Louis, long since abandoned and 
built over. It is unnecessary to go into details, 
but after a long search by General Porter the body 
was found and brought home, to lie at last in the 
chapel of the Naval Academy at Annapolis as the 
most fitting place for it to rest. 




The Chapel at Annapolis 

In this beautiful chapel, in the grounds of our great Naval Academy, 
the body of Admiral John Paul Jones now rests. 



FRIENDSHIPS AND HONORS 209 

Physically, Paul Jones was by no means a com- 
manding figure. He was slender in frame and only 
five feet and five inches in height, and even this 
inconsiderable stature was lessened by a slight 
stoop of his shoulders. But his brow was broad 
and full, his eyes were dark and piercing, with a look 
of high courage and an honest directness of gaze. 
His nose was prominent, well shaped, and sensitive, 
and his cheek-bones were high. His mouth was 
large, but well modeled, and his chin was strong. 
Though his shoulders stooped slightly, he carried 
his head high. But mere size alone does not in- 
fluence followers, and in the fury of battle no more 
commanding figure than Paul Jones ever swayed 
men to his will. The personification of courage and 
relentless determination at such moments, some 
rare quahty in his personality then welded the 
skulkers, the disaffected, and the brave into a 
harmonious whole that became in a way the em- 
bodiment of his own spirit. 

In bearing he was graceful and wholly at ease. 
He carried himself with dignity in any society, 
and by a lifelong and diligent cultivation of his 
mind he was always able to give in full value the 
equivalent of all that he received. He did not, 
therefore, hold his place in social life merely as 
the lion of the hour, but because of his fitness for it. 



210 JOHN PAUL JONES 

In a time when the sailor or the warrior was 
supposed to use strange oaths and plain speech, 
Paul Jones was both clean-mouthed and clean- 
hearted. His letters disclose the same quality of 
cleanness. He made friends with the great, and 
kept them. If he also made enemies, he had also 
the generous quaHties of forgiveness and for- 
bearance. He did not hold anger or hatred. 

As a commander of single ships he was remark- 
able. He never acknowledged defeat, and con- 
tinued to fight on with his poor ships and poorer 
crews ; and in the end, victory, worn down by his 
persistency, came to him. But he was more than 
this, more than mere fighter; he was even 
greater as an adroit and skillful commander. And 
even beyond these great qualities he had the splen- 
did ability that could mold principles and policies 
for the betterment of his high calling. All in all, 
he was both a great sailor and a great man. 



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literature have been entrusted with a volume. In each case 
they have written with a child's point of view in mind, those 
events being emphasized which are calculated to appeal to the 
younger reader, making a full and well-balanced narrative, yet 
always authentic. 

" Most admirable in their construction and purpose. The 
volumes are interesting and attractive in appearance, graphic 
in style, and wonderfully inspiring in subject matter, reaching 
an enviable mark in juvenile literature." — Philadelphia Public 
Ledger. 

" Far away from the * dry as dust ' type of biography." 

— San Francisco Bulletin. 

" Simply and attractively told. . . . Especially interesting 
to children." — Christian Advocate. 

"An excellent series." — New York Sun. 

See the following pages for descriptions of the individual books 
of this series. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 



TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS 

New Illustrated Biographies for Young People 



THOMAS A. EDISON By Francis Rolt=Wheeler 

Thomas Alva Edison is the typical American. From boy- 
hood to ripest manhood he has been keen to see an opportu- 
nity, and quick to turn that opportunity to a practical use. 
His genius is peculiar because it is so American. It is not as 
a scientist that Edison is great, it is not even as an inventor, 
it is as the master of the practical use of everything he touches 
that he appears a giant mind of modern times. 

Illustrated. $.50 

ROBERT FULTON By Alice C. SutcUffe 

The life of Robert Fulton makes good reading. The story 
of his belief in and work upon a submarine and his journeys 
to France and England to lay his plans before the British 
Government — his steamboat, and the years of study and labor 
which went toward perfecting it — his paintings — his travels 
in foreign lands in days when American travelers were few — 
combine to make one of the most interesting and inspiring 
books of the series. 

"The story is full of interest, and the style fascinating. 
Few of the 'heroes of peace' attract the youthful reader more 
than the one chosen by this writer." — Christian Standard. 

Illustrated. $.50 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN By E. Lawrence Dudley 

As a statesman, diplomat, scientist, philosopher, and man of 
letters, Benjamin Franklin was the foremost American of his 
time. The story of his life is an inspiring and stimulating 
narrative, with all the fascination and interest of Colonial and 
Revolutionary America, Mr. Dudley has written a book that 
will find favor with every right-minded boy or girl. 

Illustrated. $.50 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 

•RD-23 2 ** 




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